Mercenary Tales 21XX
by DuskW
Summary: Based in the Megaman X universe slightly AU. Three Mercenaries work behind the scenes the general population don't hear about. What happens when the ones created to protect humans turn out to be the ones that they need protecting against. OCs a plenty.
1. A Nights Work

_Chapter 1_

_A Night's Work_

Location: Classified

Job: Retrieval of vial

Client: Maverick Hunter HQ

The night was cold, with the wind howling through the street. It was so late that there weren't really a lot of people out, except for the few people leaving the bars after last call. As the few remaining people quickly hurried for their homes one man started heading for a large building at the end of the street. The black coat that he wore flapped in the wind as he stood across the street from the building, 30 stories high and, from the looks of the security, very well guarded.

"Looks like I'll be earning my keep tonight." Said the young man to himself as he made his way across the street. "Going in through the front doesn't seem likely so I think I'll see what the roof looks like." He thought walking past the security droids. As he got to the side of the building he looked around to see if anyone else was in the alley.

Sure that he was alone the young man began to change, the clothes he once wore were gone instead what replaced them was a black and red armor. His red hair was covered by a black helmet with a red D on each side. Once he was sure his armor was on he began to climb the building making his way to the roof.

As he reached the roof the reploid lowered a small transmitter from his helmet. "Night can you hear me?" he whispered. "Yeah I can hear you, where are you?" came a reply through the receiver.

"I'm on the roof, which floor is the vial on?"

"It's on the 25th floor; you can get there from the roof through the air ducts."

"Thanks oniichan." The reploid returned the transmitter to its original position and made his way toward the air duct. "Ok just drop down a couple of floors and hope no one hears me, piece of cake." He thought to him self as he eased his way into the duct. Once he was in he let himself drop down slowly by clinging to the side of the duct. As he continued down he counted the floors until he reached the 25th floor.

Again he lowered his transmitter to call Night. "Ok I'm in and on the floor; did the client send the interior map?"

"Yeah, turn on your visor and I'll transmit the floor plan for you."

The reploid lowered his visor and saw the floor plan flash on with a cursor indicating his and the vial's position.

"Ok from the look of the plan the vial appears to be only on the other side of the hall. I'll access the room from the air ducts then make my way out through one of the windows. How does that sound?"

"Sounds fine, but the vial room doesn't have any windows."

"That's true but the room next to it does."

"Fine it's your life not mine, just be careful, ok."

"Ah I didn't know you cared oniichan." He said in a sarcastic voice, to which Night hung up leaving the young reploid alone again.

Climbing through the duct system he was soon above the vial's room. Noticing that there was no direct access he retrieved one of the beam sabers from his hip. Switching it on he cut a hole big enough to lower him self through. Moving the piece he cut out of the way he popped his head through the freshly made hole and he looked around to get a lay of the room.

He first noticed the vial on a pedestal in the center of the room; he also noticed that the entire floor was pressure sensitive. "Well it had to be a bit difficult to be fun." He thought to himself as he noticed where the door was. "Ok time to go to work." He began to lower him self down. So as not to set off the floor sensors he hung onto the edge of the hole, from his hanging position he began to swing him self back and forth. After a minute of swinging he let go of the edge flying toward the pedestal. As he passed over it he snatched the vial turning in the air. When he was now past the pedestal he switched on his boot thrusters and began to hover in the air. He quickly moved to the door to leave, but before he could the floor sensors deactivated and the door opened.

In walked two security droids, who immediately drew their weapons at the floating reploid in front of them. "Don't move!" Yelled one of the droids, as the black reploid lowered himself to the floor.

"I'm impressed; you guys must work hard because the guard schedule said this place wasn't going to be checked for another hour. I really didn't want to hurt anyone so why don't you guys just put those down and let me go, how about it?" The black reploid said knowing that security droids don't work that way, yet still hoping for a miracle.

"I'll say again don't move!"

:Sigh: "Fine we'll do this the hard way then. Here catch!" The black reploid threw the vial at the security droids, who moved to catch the vial. But before it even began to fall the reploid drew his sabers and quickly dispatched the droids.

"May you rest in peace." He said as he caught the vial and moved toward the door.

In the security office a signal was received that two of the security droids had been destroyed. The officer at the monitoring station checked the readings. He picked up his radio after he confirmed the readings, "Sir we have a problem, two of the security droids have just been terminated on the 25th floor."

"I'll be there in a second dispatch some more droids as my back up."

"Yes sir."

Out in the hall the young reploid moved toward the next room. As he was about to enter the room he heard the ping of the elevator. He turned toward the elevator to see what was coming, yet he was blown back as the elevator door exploded from what he thought was a buster blast.

"Only an idiot would think of stealing something from a Maverick Hunter R&D lab. So what's your name maverick?" Said a figure through the smoke.

"First," the black reploid said as he was getting up "I'm not an idiot. Second I'm a mercenary not a maverick and third the name's Dusk."


	2. Payment

Here's chapter two hope everyone enjoys it. 

_Chapter 2_

_Payment_

Dusk stood at the end of the hall waiting to get a view of the hunter that made such a big entrance. Through the smoke walked out a navy blue armored reploid. The hunter had a matching colored helmet, that Dusk thought, that resembled a shark's fin with a red visor covering his entire face.

"Well I gave you my name so it would only be proper manners to give yours." Dusk said as he leaned up against the wall he was thrown to.

"The name is Gatlin and I'm in charge of security here."

"Well I don't really think that a fight is something either of us wants so I'll just be on my wa…" but Dusk was cut off as Gatlin raised his arm and morphed his blaster. The buster was fitting for Gatlin's name; it had three barrels that began to spin very quickly.

"Ok the hard way then." Dusk said as he dove for the nearest door. As he reached the door Gatlin let his charged shot go. Three spinning orbs flew towards Dusk just as he ducked through the door. The shot blew the wall and the two behind it into a fine dust. "Great this is not at all what I expected tonight to be like, but didn't he say that he was a maverick hunter? I thought that this job originally came from their HQ." Dusk thought while he charged his Sunset Buster.

"You know Dusk, that a mercenary is just really a maverick that works for money, so why don't you just come out and let me do my job." Gatlin said as he walked toward the room Dusk was in. As he came closer Dusk walked back out into the hall, his visor lowering and the lower part of his helmet moving to cover the rest of his face.

"I thought I told you…" Dusk said as he took off toward Gatlin. Gatlin let loose another buster shot, Dusk dropped to the floor dodging the shot. Springing from the floor he dashed right up in front of Gatlin, who probably had a shocked face underneath his visor.

"I'M A MERCENARY YOU PIECE OF TRASH AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!!" Dusk screamed as he pointed his buster right in Gatlin's face.

"SUNSET BUSTER!!"

The dark orange and red blast that erupted from Dusk's buster engulfed the upper part of Gatlin's body vaporizing everything it touched. When the blast subsided all that was left of the hunter were his legs.

"I've been a mercenary all my life and I will never be anything else."

Dusk turned and walked to the room he could leave from, as he walked back his visor lifted and the face guard of his helmet retracted. As he entered the room he shot a blast at the window on the farthest wall. Dusk thought about everything that had happened and made a note to talk to Night about it, he jumped out of the hole and teleported back home so that he could contact his employer to get his payment.


	3. Offer

I'm hoping that soon some people will review this cause feed back is a good thing.

Megaman X and all related characters are property of Capcom. Night, Dusk and Dawn, plus all appearing villians are my own characters, give recognition if you use them._  
_

_Chapter 3_

_Offer_

Night sat at his terminal drumming his fingers on the counter, as he usually did when Dusk didn't report in at the end of a mission. Lying underneath his chair Lunaris, Night's dog type support unit, yawned catching the attention of his owner. Night leaned down and petted Lunaris on his head. Just then Night's attention was caught by the sound of an incoming teleport, which he recognized as Dusk's.

"Welcome back Dusk. How did the rest of the job go?"

"Not as we had planned I'm sorry to say. Here." Dusk tossed the vial over to his brother.

"Can you scan its contents and tell me exactly what I just picked up."

"Sure, but don't you want to call the Maverick Hunters and tell them that you finished the job?" Night asked as he placed the vial into a scanner.

"I don't think that we were working for the Maverick Hunters, because I had to scrap one on the job." Dusk said as he moved toward the terminal to take a look at the readings that were coming up from the scan.

Night looked up from the monitor at his brother; he knew that Dusk didn't like to finish off opponents so that they were completely unrecoverable. Yet when the situation called for it Dusk knew that sometimes things can't always go the way you like, he had taught both of his siblings that.

"So can I ask why you had to scrap a hunter or do you not want to talk about it?" Night asked as he resumed his scans.

"He kept calling me something I wasn't and" Dusk said with a look of anger in his eyes, "he was dishonoring our profession."

"Ah, I see, and let me guess he thought that we were just mavericks for hire, right?"

"Something like that." Dusk said as he bent down to pet Lunaris.

"Well outoto sometimes others just don't understand what we do, but what matters is that we do. So don't let it get to you ok."

Dusk looked up to his brother and smiled, Night always knew the right thing to say when he doubted himself or feeling down.

"Oh, I almost forgot where's Dawn?" Dusk asked as he got back up letting Lunaris go to sleep.

"We got another job offer while you were out, so since I was giving you support here she went out to do it. It was a simple job, demolition of a new maverick military base. The details are on the mainframe, you can check them out for yourself." Night said as he looked over the data coming up from the scan.

Dusk walked over to another terminal in the room and brought up the details of the job his younger sister was now out on. As Night had said it did seem to be a simple job, the base had apparently just been completed so there was no maverick general stationed there yet. Plus if there had been Dawn could handle it and if she needed help she would call back to get it.

Dusk turned and began to walk out of the room, "I'm going to go get some rest call me when you get the results of the scan ok."

"No problem. Good night Dusk."

Dusk held up his hand, acknowledging his brother, as he walked out of the room. Walking down the hall he heard the TV on in the common room. He popped his head in to see Solaris, Dawn's cat type support unit, curled up on the couch facing the TV. He continued down the hall toward his room, leaving Solaris alone was best when she was curled up on the couch because she was quite grouchy if disturbed. At the end of the hall he turned and entered his room, which had a terminal in the wall right next to his bed, a dresser right next to the door and on the floor a red rug on which slept Eclipse, his wolf type support unit. Upon entering the room Eclipse looked up at him and began to wag his tail. "Miss me boy, sorry I couldn't take you along but it wasn't really the type of job that you would have liked." Dusk said as he began to remove his armor. As he placed his armor in the dresser he put on some shorts and a t-shirt and walked over to his bed, stopping to pat Eclipse on the head. As he lay on his bed he hoped that Night had some answers for him in the morning and that Dawn was ok on her mission. After some time he drifted off to sleep leaving all his worries until the morning.


	4. Demolition

Getting a little action in this chapter, enjoy. 

_Chapter 4_

_Demolition_

Location: Okinawa

Job: Demolition of Maverick Military Base

Client: Japanese Government

"Wow!" exclaimed Dawn, "I had always wanted to come to Okinawa it's just so beautiful here. I'll have to do some touristy stuff once I blow the mav base out of the water."

Dawn stood on a beach facing the direction of the Maverick base, which had just been completed of the coast of Okinawa. To blend in she wore a yellow sundress that matched her dirty blonde hair.

"Well if I want to see the sites I had better get rid of the base, oh yeah collecting my fee while I'm here will give me some money to buy souvenirs for everyone back home." Dawn thought as she morphed into her orange and yellow armor. She put her hair up so that she could put on her helmet, which had an orange D on it, she insisted on having the D just like her big brother. Set for her operation she began towards the ocean smiling cheerfully thinking about what she was going to do after she was finished.

As she approached the water two thrusters on her back kicked in and she took off, keeping herself right above the water in the air. Staying under the base's radar was important because Dawn's sensors showed that their anti-air defenses were up and running, she really didn't want to explain to her brothers why she needed her armor repaired from missile damage. As Dawn approached the base she lowered her visor so that she could get a closer look at the guard status. Through her visor she could see about 20 soldier reploids walking on the deck, four ride armors equipped for ocean operations, and two guard towers.

"Ok the direct approach is out; I'll just have to try taking out the support columns." Dawn thought to herself as she grew closer to the base.

Zerra thought that being sent to a new base was a step up since he joined the Mavericks, but what he was sadly disappointed when he learned that he and about 50 other soldiers were being stationed there to guard the base until Deep Kraken arrived with his unit. He had gotten enough of guard duty when he was originally a security droid for a pharmaceutical company.

"Sitting in this tower is not my idea of how a Maverick's life should be." He thought to himself as he scanned the horizon. "I joined up with this army so that I could lay waste to cities and gain some glory on the battlefiel…" his train of thought was cut off as he saw something moving low and fast toward the base. He scrambled for his binoculars so that he could get a better look at the object.

A small grin crept across his face. "A Maverick Hunter." he thought, his excitement getting the better of him at the thought of finally proving himself in battle against the enemy. He slammed his hand down on a red button which triggered a siren to go off.

"Enemy incoming, all hands prepare for battle!!!" Zerra screamed down from the tower at the scrambling soldiers. Zerra turned to check on how far the hunter was from the base. As he looked through his binoculars again he saw that the hunter was female and that a buster shot was flying right toward him.

"No way." He thought as the blast engulfed the tower. As it fell to the ground he thought about how unfair it was that he didn't even get to fight after getting so excited about finally seeing some action. The now flaming tower crashed down onto one of the fueling tanks causing a massive explosion which destroyed everything in the immediate area.

Weapons fire was coming from the base and Dawn was doing her best to fly through the barrage. She noticed that the ride armors were now mobilizing, their pilots turning them toward the sea.

"Damn I thought that I would be moving to fast for any of the watch towers to see me." She thought as she fired off another charged buster shot. Dawn was aiming for the watch towers, seeing as what happened to the first caused so much damage, hoping to take out more troops and whatever facilities she could.

Her original plan of taking out the support columns was still her best bet to sink the base, along with its annoying troops. Dawn increased her speed as much she could so that she could still maneuver between enemy fire. As she drew nearer to the base the aquatic ride armors jumped from the deck so that they would be able to fire upon Dawn while she was under the deck. Dawn dodged some that almost landed on top of her and fired off a couple of semi-charged shots trying to hit the pilots, she managed to hit 2 out of the 15 that fell into the ocean.

"Before the armors surface I have to plant some charges on the support columns, otherwise I might not be able to." Dawn thought to herself as she began fixing a charge to the nearest support column.

As she planted the second charge onto the column the first of the ride armors resurfaced and began firing at her. She quickly dodged the shot and flew down toward her assailant. Dawn reached to the back of her hip and retrieved her solar tonfas, raising them to the ready is flipped on the energy blade tips at the end of the tonfas and slashed at the ride armor pilot's eyes. The pilot screamed as he was robbed of his sight and Dawn began spinning the tonfa in her other hand to the point where it seemed as if she was carrying a buzz saw.

"Eat this!" she yelled as she moved the spinning weapon and sliced the ride armor down the middle. By this time the rest of the ride armors had surfaced and began firing in Dawn's direction.

"This is starting to look bad." Dawn thought to herself, "Looks like I'll need some back up."


	5. Support

Need some reviews here people, help a guy out. 

_Chapter 5_

_Support_

The enemy fire continued and Dawn flew up toward the deck and fired off a buster shot creating a hole for her to fly through. She shot through putting her guard up for the onslaught that she was expecting. The soldiers on the deck opened fire on her as she flew towards one of the still standing buildings. Landing on the roof Dawn moved to a position where she could get some cover.

"Solaris!" Dawn called and a moment later Solaris teleported right in front of her. "Ok pretty kitty I need some help and before you complain I already have a reward for you in mind." At this Solaris looked up at her owner's face with an excited look. "How does fresh sushi sound?" As soon as Dawn finished her sentence Solaris jumped right into the air and in a bright flash merged with Dawn.

Dawn was now a bit taller, her armor turned bright yellow, and the armor around her arms and legs now had rectangle cases. "Knew the sushi would do it." She thought to herself as she again took to the sky. Flying faster than before she dove right into the mass of soldiers, her tonfas already spinning in her hands. Each soldier she passed was cut into and huddled over in pain, as she got to the last soldier she readied herself to take on the ride armors below.

Taping a button on her wrist the two charges she planted below exploded, causing the column to break in half raining debris upon the ride armors. The ride armors began to panic as the tried their best to avoid the chunks of concrete crashing down from above. Taking this opportunity Dawn fell down from the hole she created earlier and picked of one of the ride armors with a charged buster shot. As the rest regained their composure they began to return fire on their target. Instead of dodging Dawn flew to what would be the center of the ride armor troops.

"Sorry boys, but I want to get to do some shopping before going home so this is the end." She said as she brought her arms up so that she could touch her shoulders.

"SUNRISE EXPLOSION!!!!" As she yelled the cases on her arms and legs opened and out shot hundreds of micro-missiles. The missiles flew everywhere, they hit the ride armors and the columns, and in a thundering boom explosions boomed from the missiles. As the last of the missiles exploded the ride armors were now pieces of scrap floating in the water and the columns were crumbling into the ocean.

Not wanting to be under the base when it collapsed into the brimey deep Dawn took of toward the shore. As she landed on the beach Solaris un-merged and sat next to Dawn as they watched the Maverick base fall into the ocean.

As the last of the base disappeared Dawn looked down at Solaris, "Now how about we go get that sushi I promised you." Solaris meowed in approval and Dawn laughed as they walked up the beach to enjoy a job well done.


	6. Meeting

Chapter 6 is ready and I'm looking for reviews. 

_Chapter 6_

_Meeting_

The sun shown in the hall as Dusk made his way, groggily, towards the kitchen. As he walked through the door the smell of bacon and eggs filled the room.

"Morning." Night said as he stood at the stove cooking breakfast. Lunaris and Eclipse were already eating from their bowls on the floor. Dusk walked toward the fridge and took out a gallon of orange juice and began to drink from the container.

"Hey come on, we have glasses for a reason."

"It's too early to be given a lecture." Dusk said as he took a seat at the table. A few minutes later the kitchen door flew open.

"I'm back and I've brought everyone souvenirs!!" Dawn exclaimed coming through the door and taking a seat next to Dusk.

"And it's defiantly too early for you to be screaming." Dusk said as he took another gulp of orange juice.

"Ah, did someone have a rough night last night." Dawn taunted poking her brother in the arm. Before Dusk could say anything Night put a plate in front of each of his siblings, "Why don't we eat and then I can talk about the chip you brought back last night, ok?" Dusk and Dawn looked at each other with a look of annoyance and then turned from each other and began to eat their breakfast, Night just let out a small sigh at their action.

When they had finished eating the three of them went into the next room. Dusk and Dawn both took seats at the opposite end of the couch in the room and Night walked over to a monitor, ready to give his explanation.

"Ok what Dusk brought back last night was a microchip and from my scans I found out that it is a chip for a Buster type weapon." The monitor next to Night turned on displaying the chip.

"So what's so special about a chip for a buster, anyone can buy replacement parts at a store?" Dusk asked

"Well apparently this chip has part of a program on it that doesn't look like a normal weapon program. This chip has some type of anti-viral program written in it."

"What kind of program?" Dawn asked as she leaned forward to look closer at the monitor.

"I can't say for sure, but if this was being developed at a Maverick Hunter R&D lab then..."

"Then this is probably a weapon to fight the Maverick virus, no virus no mavericks." Dusk interrupted as he got up from the couch.

"That is what this most likely is, so the question is what do we do?"

Dusk walked up to the monitor and used the keyboard next to it to call up a file. As the file came up he read it carefully.

"What are you doing oniichan?" Dawn asked as she looked over Dusk's shoulder.

"Just looking over the contract for my job last night, and I think I know what we have to do." Dusk said. Walking toward a desk in the room he picked up a communicator.

"This is Dusk, I have the package." He said over the communicator.

"Good meet me at coordinates 200.30.560 in one hour." Responded a voice over the receiver.

"Very well, Dusk out." Dusk placed the communicator down and went back into the kitchen. Night and Dawn just looked at each other before following their brother back to the kitchen.

"What exactly are you doing?" Night asked as Dusk took a seat at the table again.

"Well I thought I would have a cup of coffee then get ready for my meeting."

"What about the chip we have to think about this first." Dawn said coming in right behind Night.

"Don't worry; I have it all under control. Night could you get the vial ready for me." Dusk asked

"The vial?" Night said in a curious tone and then he smiled knowing exactly what his brother was thinking. "Sure no problem."

"What you two, won't someone tell me what's going on?" Dawn asked as both Night and Dusk left to get ready for the meeting. Dawn took a seat and looked down at the three support units, "I really hate it when they do that to me." Dawn said.

In a dark room ten reploids sat at a table, one of them closing a communication screen.

"That was the mercenary, he has the chip."

"Excellent, part one of the plan is complete."

"Don't get cocky; according to our sources he has had the chip since last night. He could double cross us."

"Please gentlemen don't bicker; we have contingencies in place for such an occasion. Now the four of you…"

A light shown down on four reploids standing at the end of the table. One was humanoid type with blood red armor, the second was a lion type with gun metal armor, the third was a bird type with red and golden armor, and the last was squid type with blue and silver armor.

"go and retrieve the chip and make sure you give the mercenary a well deserved tip. HAHAHAH." The reploid at the head of the table laughed as his four soldiers teleported away.


	7. Double Cross

Merry Christmas folks and here's your gift chapter 7.

_Chapter 7_

_Double-Cross_

New York City was once a city to be proud of; its glissing skyscrapers towered into the skyline. That was then, now the same buildings stood like towering corpses, casualties of the great Cataclysm and the Maverick Wars. Dusk stood at the meeting spot, waiting for his client or one of his representatives. The eerie quiet was unnerving; he preferred doing these kinds of things in public places.

:Sigh: "No choice, the client wanted the drop here so what could I say" Dusk thought as he scanned the area. Just then a teleport beam shot down in front of him and from the beam stood a reploid in blood red armor. "About time."

"My name is Bloody Crimson and I've come for the package."

"Alright, but before that my payment did you bring it?"

Bloody flashed a credit card, "Two million credits as my employer agreed."

"Good then we exchange goods and be on our way."

Both of them began to walk toward each other, but then Bloody stopped. Dusk didn't know what he was trying, but the three new busters around his head gave him a good idea.

"So a double cross huh? Might I ask who you three are, you know since we're getting all close and everything."

"Where are my manners," Bloody said, "Deep Kraken, Frost Mandrill, and Inferno Phoenix. Now with the pleasantries out of the way please feel free to die."

At that the sound of three busters went off, but the ones that hit the ground were Dusk's assailants. "Well that was fun now how about you pass over that card."

"How did you do that?" an astonished Bloody asked.

"You're not the only one that came with backup; allow me to introduce my older brother Night." Dusk pointed to the top of a building where at the top Night stood with his buster trained on Bloody Crimson.

"Well there is a problem, see you left me standing and even if he can aim at me he won't be able to hit me now that I know where he is." Bloody said with confidence.

"That's true, but then again I can handle you easily enou…" Dusk morphed both of his busters and aimed them at Deep Kraken and Frost Mandrill as they sprung from the ground and rushed toward Dusk. Dusk fired off a couple of shots and jumped to the side for cover. Deep Kraken took a shot to the chest, while Frost Mandrill dodged the attack meant for him.

Seeing what was happening Night began to shoot off a few more rounds. "Well since my cover's blown I guess I'll just have to join in on the fun below." Night said to himself. Moving from his perch he leapt off the building still firing as he fell. As Night landed on the ground he quickly made his way to his brother. "Nice little party isn't it."

"It is isn't?" Dusk said as he punched Frost Mandrill in the jaw. The only ones attacking were Deep Kraken and Frost Mandrill, Bloody Crimson and Inferno Phoenix were standing off to the side just watching.

"So what should we do about the spectators?" Dusk asked as he drew his beam saber slashing off one of Deep Kraken's tentacles.

"We should invite them to join in, after all battle really isn't a spectator sport." Night said as he let loose a charged shot from his Starlight buster. The blast flew towards the two Mavericks standing off to the side. Not making any signs of moving Inferno merely shielded himself with his wings, planning to take the blast. Bloody stood still as the blast engulfed both of them, Inferno's wings protected him, but all that was left of Bloody was a pool of synthetic blood.

"Well that was just sad." Night said as he noticed what he had done to Bloody, "I mean I thought he would be tough." At that the other mavericks just started to laugh. Night and Dusk looked at each other confused, not noticing that the pool was starting to move toward them.

Growing closer to Dusk and Night the pool suddenly sprang to life and shot out tendrils and wrapped itself around the brothers. Both of them struggled to get free, but being caught off guard they were at a disadvantage. The rest of the pool began to take the shape of Bloody, who stood in front of them arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"Do I meet with your satisfaction now sir?" Bloody said as the tendrils squeezed the two mercs harder, the sound of their armor cracking under the pressure was not assuring to Night. One of the tendrils slipped itself into Dusk's armor and retrieved the vial; it moved and placed the vial in Bloody's hand.

"You should feel honored not many people get to see my techniques, alas those few that do don't usually get to tell anyone." Bloody said as he flung his two captives into the air, the tendrils on his body retracted and spikes shot from his body. The spikes hit Dusk and Night and they flew even further, synthetic blood falling down from the sky from the impact. As they landed on a roof Bloody turned to his companions holding the vial for them to see.

"Well so much for the best mercenaries, they were a joke."

"Speak for yourself; if it wasn't for your liquefying ability you would have felt their hits like the rest of us." Deep Kraken said.

Frost Mandrill shook his head in agreement as he rubbed his bruised jaw; Inferno Phoenix merely folded his wings and walked over to Bloody.

"Shall we return to base sir?"

"Yes, I believe our superiors are waiting for their precious weapon. Return to base."

The four Mavericks teleported out of the area, confident of their victory and success of their mission. On the roof where Night and Dusk landed, both of them waited a few minutes after the Mavericks had left to make sure they were alone. Sure that they were really gone both of them sat up and checked themselves for injuries.

"Damn that Bloody guy had a weird ability didn't he?" Dusk said as his self repair systems kicked in to heal the deep wound he had in his arm.

"Yea, that was defiantly interesting. Of course we could have handled it if we copied the weapons of the other three." Night said as his own systems were repairing the small gashes on his legs. When they were confident that they were healed enough to move they teleported back to their home, to do some more precise repairs.

The ten shadowy figures sat at their round table, waiting to hear the report from their soldiers. Bloody Crimson stepped forward, a light shone down on him.

"Sirs, we have accomplished our mission. The first part of the anti-viral buster is ours." Bloody then retrieved the vial from a pocket in his vest. He placed it in a scanner on the table; the scanners screen displayed the chip inside the vial. As the scan continued a video image popped onto the screen.

A murmur arose from those seated; the one at the head of the table slammed his hand onto the table silencing the others. As the video image continued Dusk's face appeared on the screen and he began to talk.

"Hello and good day to all those watching this. Assuming that you are watching this then that means you double crossed me and my family, which is not something to be proud of. Tsk tsk tsk." The Dusk on the screen shook his head and then continued, "Well since I wasn't paid for the job you hired me for I'll be keeping this chip as collateral." Dusk held up the real chip in between his fingers. "I doubt that this is the last you'll be hearing of me or my family so until then sleep with one eye open." Dusk smiled and waved, "Bye-bye take care now."

The screen faded to black and the chip in the scanner exploded, little bits of confetti flew from the inside of the chip. Bloody and the other three looked astonished at the black screen, the fact that the two brothers were possibly holding back against them meant that they were anticipating their actions. The reploid at the head of the table cleared his throat to get the attention of his dumbstruck soldiers.

"Well how do you explain yourselves?" He asked as the four of them looked at him. They dropped down onto their hands and knees; they apologized and groveled in an attempt to save their lives. "ENOUGH!" boomed the reploid's voice; the four cowered at the commanding tone of his voice. "You four will have one more chance to redeem yourselves. You will accompany members of this council on raids to gain the remaining pieces of the Anti-viral buster. Fail use again and you will be destroyed immediately, understand!"

"Yes sir!" the four of them bellowed. The light shining on them faded and they left the room, the table members looked to the head. "We must be careful now, I doubt that the mercenaries know our true intentions for the weapon, but they will prove to be a problem. We have no choice but to get the other pieces ourselves now, we will split into two man groups. Since there are only four more pieces myself and Meteor will keep up our cover, if possible keep your cover as long as possible."

The other members shook their heads in agreement and rose from their chairs and exited the room. As the last of them left the room the lights from the hall shown on a symbol on the wall, it was the Maverick Hunters logo.


	8. Reunions

Ok I need to see some reviews here cause I can't tell if anyone is actually enjoying this or not so review._  
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_  
Chapter 8_

_Reunions_

The sky was clear as Dusk sat in a tree looking up at it. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and was just enjoying the feel of the breeze on the hot day. Dusk leaned back and stretched his arms and yawned thinking about taking a nap in the tree. He was about to do so when he heard someone calling his name, he looked around to see where the voice was coming from. He found the source a woman, with brunette hair and she wore a red shirt with a black skirt, was running toward the tree he was in. Dusk smiled and jumped down from the tree and began walking toward the girl. As they got closer to each other the girl jumped at Dusk and wrapped her arms around him, Dusk did likewise. They both laughed as they fell to the ground, the girl looked up at him and Dusk looked back into her brown eyes.

"When did you get back?" the girl asked

"About an hour ago, I wanted to enjoy the weather so I thought I would hang out in the tree for a bit."

"You should have come to my house and gotten me. I would have loved to sit with you."

"Well, how about now? I don't have anything planned for today."

"Sure." The girl said with a smile on her face as she leaned on Dusk. Dusk put his arms around the girl and looked back up to the sky.

"Dusk"

Dusk looked down at the girl and responded, "Yeah"

"I wish you didn't have to travel so much."

"Well traveling is part of my job; it's what I chose to do with my life. It's what makes me happy. However, coming back here to you makes me even happier."

Dusk smiled when he finished and the girl smiled at the words he said. She closed her eyes and moved closer to Dusk, Dusk leaned down and closed his eyes. With his eyes closed he heard a faint sound, like water draining.

When he opened his eyes he found himself not in the field by the tree, but instead inside of the recovery pod in his home. The sound of the draining water was the chemical solutions he was floating in draining from the pod. As the pod opened Dusk could see the room much clearer and he noticed his sister working the equipment.

"How long have I been in there?" Dusk asked as he removed his helmet, they had to be in their armor for the repairs to be made to themselves and their armor.

"Since you got back last night, Night got out a few hours ago. Something wrong you look a little disappointed." Dawn asked

Dusk walked toward the door, "It's nothing, just a dream I hadn't had in a long time."

"A dream, what was it about, c'mon you can tell me." Dawn pleaded eagerly.

"It was about how life would be so much quieter around here if you had your own place." Dusk said jokingly as he exited the room.

"That's not very nice and I bet that isn't even what your dream was about." Dawn yelled at her brother as he left the room. Dusk walked down the hall toward his room, as he got inside he closed the door removed his armor and changed into something to sleep in. He went over to his bed and laid down, staring at the ceiling he began to drift off to sleep. Before he actually fell asleep he hoped that he could finish the dream from earlier, after all he hadn't seen Aura in such a long time.

Back in the recovery room Dawn powered down the equipment and left the room. She headed toward the kitchen, there sitting at the table was Night reading the paper and drinking a cup of coffee. As Dawn came in he put the paper down and looked up at her.

"Is Dusk out of the pod yet?"

"Yeah, he looked a little weird though. I hope nothing is wrong with him."

Night took a sip of coffee, "How did he look weird, was he acting funny?"

"Sort of, he said something about a dream."

Night smiled as he put his cup down, "Dusk probably had a dream about someone precious to him."

"Someone precious I never knew there was someone like that to Dusk. He always struck me as the work dedicated type."

"Well he is also extremely dedicated to his family, but then I don't have to tell you that do I?"

Dawn smirked, "Of course not."

"Well then how about we let him sleep for a while and then we head over to meet our client for our next job."

"All of us, that's a little much isn't it?"

"The offer called for all three of us and who the offer came from is just as much of a surprise." Night laughed a little and Dawn looked at her eldest brother with a confused look on her face.

"Both of them are weird." Dawn thought to herself.


	9. Explanations

Quick update before work. X and Zero are copyright by Capcom.

_Chapter 9_

_Explanations_

The street was bustling with activity as people were walking along. Tokyo was as busy as it had been in the past; with the Maverick Hunter HQ in the city Maverick activity was limited to minor instances. The street café that Night, Dusk and Dawn were sitting at gave them a view of the activity on the street.

"It's nice to get out as a family once in a while isn't it?" Dawn said as she spooned at her sundae.

"Yeah, it's not often that we all go out together so we should enjoy the opportunity." Night said as he set down his cup of coffee.

"Sigh" Night and Dawn looked at their brother who was staring at the people walking in the street.

Dawn leaned over to Night, "Something's been bothering him since we got here, what is his problem?"

"He's probably still thinking about that dream you told me about."

"Well he should get over it he's depressing like this."

"Heh, that's very comforting of you." Night said as he looked back to Dusk. "I guess the atmosphere here would remind him of the past." Night thought to himself.

Night's gaze left his younger brother to the two men walking toward them.

"Well it's about time that our employers arrived." Night's words snapped Dusk back from his train of thought. Both Dusk and Dawn turned around to see the two men. One wore a blue shirt and jeans; he also had green eyes and brown hair. While the other wore black pants with a red and white T-shirt and had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Dawn jumped out of her seat and gave each of the men a hug.

"Uncle X, Uncle Zero it's been way too long since we last saw you."

"Same goes for us." X says as he lets Dawn down.

"But what are you doing here?" Dusk asked

"What Night didn't tell you?" Zero said looking at his eldest nephew.

"Well I thought it would be a surprise if I waited till you showed up." Night said with a smile on his face.

"Your twisted personality gives you these great ideas of surprises, but they are really annoying at times." Dusk said as he sipped at his tea.

"Hahaha, you think so. I always thought you guys enjoyed it."

"I think you're the only one that enjoys it." Dawn said as she took her seat again.

"Anyway what Night was supposed to tell you is that we are your employers." Zero said trying to get everyone back on track.

Dusk and Dawn looked at their uncles with shocked looks; they had worked for the Maverick Hunters before but never with their uncles.

"Your hiring us, you're joking right." Dawn said to Zero.

"No I'm not we have a job that only we can trust family with."

"If this is about family then we're in no problem."

"It figures Dusk would jump right in if they said they needed family." Night thought to himself. "Well since we're in how about getting telling us the details of this job."

"This job is of the utmost importance and top secret so only key figures in HQ know about it. The details of this job are linked to a weapon that we've been developing for years now, and it's getting closer to completion. However someone has caught wind of its development and they are trying to steal the weapon."

"Question."

X stops his explanation and looks at Dusk, "Yeah Dusk what is it?"

"What kind of weapon are we talking about?"

"The weapon is a new type of buster designed to destroy viruses, specifically the Maverick Virus."

"One more question, is this buster being built now?"

X and Zero look at each other with puzzled looks, "In fact it is being built now, but one of the parts was stolen. Why do you ask?"

Dusk looked over to Night nodding; Night took out the chip from his pocket.

"I believe we, uh, found your missing piece for you."

X took the chip handed to him and examined it, "How did you guys get this?"

"Ah that's, um… trade secret, sorry." Dusk looked back to his brother who had an expression that was screaming that he wanted to tell them that Dusk was the one that took the chip.

X accepted Dusk's explanation, but it seemed that Zero knew the truth, yet he kept it to himself.

"Now with this I guess you already got one part of your job done, so as for the rest of it. I guess you already know that this chip has anti-virus algorithms on it; however it is only one part of the buster. With this chip there are five other parts, two of these are already at HQ under our squads' protection; the other three are being finished at different R&D labs."

"I take it that you want us to guard each of these items until they are finished, right?"

"Quick as always Dusk, that's exactly what we'd like you to do. However transporting the finished part is also something we'd like you to do. When all the parts are together then we'll see if this new weapon will be worth all the work put into it."

"So when do we start?" Dawn asks.

"How about we start after lunch?"

"Sounds good to me."


	10. First Attack

Now it's time for some action so please R&R.

_Chapter 10  
The First Attack_

Once again Bloody Crimson stood before his master in the darkened room. He was summoned to be notified of his new assignment, apparently the other parts of the weapon were nearing completion and it was time to act.

"Crimson I'm sure that you are aware of why you are here so I want you to accompany Mirror and B.A. in retrieve the part from the Shanghai facility."

"Yes sir." Crimson was nervous, he was a skilled warrior and high ranking in his masters army, but Mirror and B.A. were two of the executive members and they were the strongest second only to the master. As if being born from the darkness itself Mirror and B.A. appeared behind Crimson, a drop of sweat dripping from his brow by being in the presence of the two warriors.

"Now listen to me you three I want no mistakes on this mission. If my plans are to proceed then we must attain all six pieces of the weapon. The three that have already slipped through our grasp is unacceptable; do not return until you have that part!" The shadowy figure boomed as the three bowed to him.

"Now leave me I have a meeting to attend."

"Yes sir." The three said as the darkness of the room was swept away by lights coming on from over head and as the darkness vanished so did the three. A few minutes later a knock came from the door across from the room.

"Come in." The tone of the figure's voice had changed. The door opened and in walked Signas.

"Sir I have the status reports on the missions for the past month as you requested."

"Thank you Signas, the other HQ leaders will be here shortly."

Signas took a seat at the table and talked casually with the elderly reploid of the Hunters council.

Two weeks after the meeting in Tokyo.

Dusk was beginning to lose his patience, the job had him in the Shanghai R&D lab for two weeks and he hated spending so much time doing nothing. Well nothing but watching security screens.

"How do people do this kind of work?" Dusk thought to himself as he watched a technician on a screen. As boring as the job was he was glad when he was informed yesterday that he would be able to transport the part today.

"Finally something to do instead of sitting on my ass." Dusk thought that the lab had enough security, he even joked with some of the techs that even he couldn't break into the place. The tech on the screen he was watching waved at the camera, motioning for Dusk to come down. Dusk made his way down to the lab where the tech handed him the casing for the Anti-viral buster.

"Now you won't be able to teleport with the part, we've installed scrambling devices into it so that it can be easily stolen, so you'll have to get to the HQ here where you can access a secure teleportation unit." The tech informed Dusk as he eyed the casing, thinking it didn't look so special.

"Alright I can get there easy, man you guys are really going all out with the security. Well take care man." Dusk said as he picked up the casing and made his way for the garage. One of the conditions that Dusk had made with his uncles before leaving on the job was that they could have access to some Hunter vehicles. X agreed to the condition with no problem, but Zero threw in a stipulation that they had to be returned at the end of the job. Dusk didn't care he just wanted to take a Hunter ride chaser out and see what it could do.

As Dusk entered the garage he walked toward the ride chaser he had been given. He placed the casing into a compartment on the back of the ride chaser and he lowered his visor as he got on the bike. Turning it on the engine hummed to life and Dusk opened the throttle up and took off out of the garage and into the street.

Shanghai, like every city, had an area that was completely un-inhabited so Dusk opted to go through that area. As he traveled through the quiet streets he checked to make sure that the canon on the chaser was fully charged, just in case he should run into trouble. No sooner did he finish checking the gauges than did he pick up three teleport signals beaming in close to his position. Dusk looked around trying to see where the three signals had landed; he didn't have to look long.

"Mercenary!" A familiar voiced called down from the top of a ruined building. Dusk looked up to see Bloody Crimson and two hooded figures standing on top of the building.

"Well it looks like I will be able to please my master and diminish his anger towards me at the same time. I want the weapon part you have give it to me now." Crimson said.

"Sorry, but it's my job to see that this safely gets to where it has to be. So you'll just have to try and take it." Dusk took off on the ride chaser leaving the three reploids behind. Crimson and the other two began to chase after Dusk across the roof tops. Dusk drove the chaser through the streets trying to loose his pursuers. However a blast from one of them forced him to take the part and bail the chaser. As Dusk jumped from the smoking chaser he thought about what Uncle Zero would say upon hearing about the wrecked chaser.

"Man I'm never going to hear the end of that." He thought as he landed in a darkened street. Dusk raised his visor and began to scan the roof tops trying to see his pursuers through the darkness. Suddenly three bright lights shone down on him, he covered his eyes seeing three silhouettes on top of the building in front of him. As his eyes adjusted he noticed that one of the lights had faded and that two of the figures were leaping at him. Stashing the casing into a pack he had Dusk jumped out of the way, avoiding his attackers. His eyes adjusted he saw that it was Crimson and one of the hooded figures that had jumped from the roof.

"Crimson wait for my word before you attack, I want to have some fun with him." The hooded figure said. Crimson acknowledged his wishes and stepped back.

Dusk studied his opponent, but the cloak he wore gave little for him to go on. "Better just finish this as quickly as I can." He thought to himself as he left off a few rounds from his buster. As soon as Dusk had fired so did his opponent, Dusk jumped out of the way. His opponent did the same, but there was no need the shots had hit each other canceling themselves out.

"This guy is good to react at that speed, let's see how he is at close quarters." Dusk thought to himself as he lunged at the cloaked figure. As Dusk charged at him the cloaked figure charged right back at him. Wanting to get up close Dusk just charged ahead and drew his beam saber and to his surprise the cloaked figure did the exact same again. As the two crossed blades Dusk notice that his enemy was moving exactly the same as himself. Breaking off the attack Dusk jumped back, as well his opponent jumped back. Wanting to test his theory Dusk threw his beam saber at his opponent and like before his opponent threw his and the two hit each other and fell to the ground.

"Just like I thought, somehow this guy is mimicking me." Dusk thought, "I have to figure out how he's doing it."

The cloaked figure began to laugh, "Like my copy ability, it usually has my opponents question themselves. Some think I have ESP, but let me reassure you its not." he threw off his cloak and Dusk was shocked at what was beneath it. It was himself staring back at him as if there were a mirror in front of him. Again the Dusk copy laughed, "I love that look on peoples faces it's priceless. However as much fun as I am having with you I must complete my job." The Dusk copy touched a switch on his wrist and a flash emitted from his body. As the flash vanished Dusk didn't feel a thing, in fact he couldn't move. He tried to move, but nothing happened it was as if he had been frozen. He looked over to his copy who smirked at the frustrated look on Dusk's face.

"Now it's time to show you my second ability, Mimic Control." The copy raised his hand and to Dusk's surprise he raised his hand as well. The fact had finally sunk into his head; his opponent was not a copy of himself but his mirror image.

"This could be very bad."


	11. CounterAttack

Time for some beatings and new tricks, enjoy._  
_

_Chapter 11  
Counter-Attack_

Dusk was paralyzed by Mirror's Mimic Control; he was at the mercy of his assailants. The situation seemed bleak, without control over his own body he couldn't fight back. Mirror stood there with a smile on his face, or rather Dusk's own face.

"Hey Crimson get over here it's time you did some work."

"Yes Mirror-dono." Crimson said as he glad fully approached the helpless Dusk. "Now it's time for my retribution from when you made a fool out of me." Crimson raised his fist back and slammed it into Dusk's face.

Since Dusk couldn't move his body his face didn't even turn when Crimson hit him. Crimson continued to hit Dusk, after a few minutes he backed off leaving Dusk's face bruised with a trickle of blood coming from his nose.

"If that's as hard as you hit then we could be here for a while." Dusk said as he spat some blood onto the floor.

"Oh I can hit much harder than that." Crimson raised his fist again, but this time his fist formed into a spiked ball.

"Me and my big mouth." Dusk thought to himself as Crimson slammed his spiked fist into his face. As Crimson withdrew his fist from Dusk's face cuts and puncture wounds were now visible.

"If he hits me like this I won't be able to last much longer. There's got to be a way out of this." Dusk looked around taking in his surroundings hoping to find something he can use to escape. As he looked down at his feet he noticed that the dirt was falling through some cracks. "Hmm looks like this area was built over something if I could break the floor I could get out of here and regroup. I have to find a way to move." Then Dusk noticed the blood he spat onto the floor, he then looked over to Mirror and noticed that he didn't spit when he did.

"If he didn't do it then that means he only controls how my body moves, I know how I can get out of here."

"I've had enough of this you two finish him now and retrieve the part." The hooded figure standing above yelled down to Mirror and Crimson.

"Of course B.A.-sama." Crimson said as he changed the shape of his fist again. This time his arm became a spear. "I'll skewer him and then redeem past disgrace."

"Sure you talk all big just because your opponent can't fight back, sure that's really redeeming." Dusk said with a smirk.

"Shut your filthy mouth!" Crimson charged at him ready to strike.

"Sorry but I have other plans. Sunset buster!" Dusk let loose a blast from his buster. "Since I can talk and do other things with out moving shooting while my arms are down should be no problem." Dusk thought to himself as he watched Crimson and Mirror disappear as he fell into the hole he created. Falling he could slowly feel control of his body returning to him. As he landed on the ground below he quickly ducked out of sight, moving away from the light from above. Looking back up at the hole he saw Crimson peer down trying to find him and then he saw Mirror, who still looked like himself.

"Ok I managed to get away, but now what do I do? Taking into account my enemies abilities they are the perfect match to stop anyone, plus there's that one that hasn't done anything yet. Ok Crimson by himself I know I can take, but that Mirror guy…" Dusk then suddenly realized how he could beat Mirror. "If his name implies what I'm thinking then. Eclipse!"

The wolf-type support unit appeared next to his master. "Listen Eclipse this is what we're going to do."

Above ground Crimson and Mirror were peering down into the hole Dusk had created. "Well get down there and get him." Mirror ordered Crimson. Crimson looked back to him and shook his head.

"With all due respect Mirror-dono, me going down by myself would be suicide. Your abilities are the only thing that guarantees our victory."

"Oh trying to sweet talk me into ignoring how useless you are, huh? Well forget it, get down there and take him ou…" Before Mirror could finish his sentence a cloaked figure shot through the hole. Both of the Mavericks jumped out of the way as the cloaked figure fired buster shots at them.

"So you think that a sneak attack will help think again Dusk! Mimic Control!" Mirror stood perfectly still, as did Dusk. "This time no tricks will save you." Mirror raised his arms into the air, Dusk followed. "Make sure you finish him this time!" Mirror yelled at Crimson who was already charging at Dusk.

"Yes sir!" Crimson said as he thrusted his spear like arm at Dusk.

What happened next stunned them, Dusk had dropped his hands, grabbed Crimson's arm and flung him over his shoulder.

"That's impossible you shouldn't be able to move."

"You're right I shouldn't be able to move, that is if you were my reflection." Dusk took off running at Mirror.

"Bah you forget I still have your powers, eat this Sunset Buster!" Mirror let the orange and red blast loose in Dusk's direction. Dusk jumped and began to fly into the air, propelled by his boot thrusters.

Mirror drew a beam saber and hurled it at Dusk, "Having your powers I know your weaknesses, you can't maneuver quickly with those."

"You're absolutely right, but I got some extra power." The back of Dusk's legs flipped up revealing additional boosters. As the booster ignited Dusk flew down toward Mirror, grabbing the beam saber he had thrown in mid-air.

"What are those I don't know about them?" Mirror said as he looked up at Dusk flying down at him, "This is impossible, it's almost as if he were a different…" at that moment Dusk flew right past Mirror. He turned around and faced him seeing Dusk toss the beam saber onto the floor.

"person." Mirror mumbled as he now began to feel the slash across his chest. He fell to the ground clutching his wound. "This little scratch won't stop me all I have to do is change back to myself." Mirror then began to change, instead of looking like Dusk he looked more like himself. The real Mirror had a reflective surface on his silver armor and he looked like he had no real weapons, save for a standard buster.

"Now I'll copy you again and gain your powers."

"Sorry not this time, take this…" Dusk brought his fists together and slowly energy began to surround them. He slowly began to draw his fists apart and in the space in between a massive power surge was formed.

"Black Hole Crusher!" Dusk pushed at the energy and it flew toward Mirror. As it hit Mirror it appeared that nothing had happened.

"This is your great attack that's supposed to stop me." Mirror began to laugh.

"This attack uses my armors weapon drive to amass energy into one point and cause a collapse in the surrounding space. The process begins on impact."

Mirror stopped laughing as he looked down at where he had been hit, a crackling of energy was forming around him. Then suddenly the area around Mirror began to compress on it's self, after a few minutes the energy trickled down to a small point and implode, that was when Mirrors screams had stopped.

Dusk dropped to his knee, that attack required a massive amount of energy.

"Well I don't need this cloak anymore." Dusk threw the cloak off to reveal himself in a new armor. He was 3 inches taller and his color scheme had changed to a deep red and orange. Also his face was now completely covered by his mask and visor. Dusk rose from the ground and faced the direction he had thrown Crimson into. He looked around trying to find him, but he had disappeared.

"Damn it he liquefied himself so he could move around with out my noticing. Where is he?" Dusk scanned the area trying to find the liquid Maverick; he didn't have to look long. A surge of red liquid crashed down on him from above, forcing him to the ground. As the liquid reseeded to form Bloody Crimson Dusk rolled out of the way and sprang back to his feet.

"Tricky little bastard aren't you."

"I'm just making the most of my abilities."

"Well let's see what you make of my fist." Dusk said as he charged at Crimson. Punching him right in the gut, but to no avail. Crimson merely liquefied his body and Dusk's fist went right through him.

"Fine if that's how you want to play it" Dusk jumped back to avoid a counter attack, "try this." A panel on Dusk's forearm revealed another set of thrusters and Dusk's arms shot from his body going through Crimson. However the result was the same his punch had no effect.

"Please can't you do better than this?"

"Sure, but you know strategy is everything. Double Solar Eclipse Buster!" As Dusk yelled a massive wave of energy shot at Crimson from his back completely engulfing him. The last thing Crimson saw was Dusk's detached hands in buster mode, he had been completely beaten.

Dusk's hands returned to him and Eclipse unmerged from him. Dusk fell to the ground his systems screaming he was in danger of shutting down; he had gone well past his limits.

"And there's still one more." He said as he grudgingly got himself back onto his feet. "Eclipse come here, take this and run to the Hunter HQ." Eclipse whined, he didn't want to leave his master alone in his condition. "Don't worry about me just go!" Eclipse took the part and ran. "Good boy." Dusk said with a smile.

"Well you certainly haven't changed Dusk."

He looked up to the cloaked figure; he had stood there and watched as Dusk destroyed his comrades. This gave Dusk the impression on how strong this Maverick truly was he didn't have to fight because the others would have been destroyed if they had disobeyed him. Yet the fact that he said Dusk hadn't changed seemed strange.

"Do you know me or something, sorry but I just can't seem to place your face."

"Hahaha, still quick on the remarks. To who I am I doubt you would remember me anyway, after all," The maverick removed the cloak, "you left me for dead."

Dusk stared at the Maverick; his eyes must be playing tricks on him.

"It can't be" Dusk dropped to his knees, images flashed in his mind, a town on fire, screams, and himself standing at the edge of it all crying, "your alive."


	12. Lover's Scorn

Introduction of a new character and a little look into Dusk's past, enjoy and R&R.

_Chapter 12  
Lover's Scorn_

The Maverick revealed herself to be a female reploid, with brunette hair, brown eyes and her armor was completely white. She smiled down at Dusk who was now on his knees, "Where he belongs." She thought to herself.

"Well does seeing me give you that much guilt?"

"Aura how can you be alive, I saw the entire town wiped out. Everything and everyone was completely devastated, nothing was left."

"Really, well if that's the truth why am I still here then?" Aura yelled at Dusk.

Dusk just sat there quiet, for he could not give her an answer. If she had lived through that hell alone anything she did to him was necessary as atonement. This was the only thought going through Dusk's mind right now.

"Aura listen to me…"

"SHUT UP!! My name's not Aura anymore, she's dead and buried to the world. I'm Battle Aura and I am here for the buster part, now hand it over."

"If you remember me so well then you already know my answer."

"And I was so counting on it." Battle Aura jumped from her perch and head straight for Dusk. Unable to dodge her strike Dusk just accepted the punch that sent him flying backwards. Before he hit the ground B.A. was on him laying into him with a furious set of blows. Dusk could feel the years of pain and resentment in each punch, he accepted them all since he had failed her. As he hit the ground he groggily rose to his feet, but B.A. was already on him hitting him to no end.

"Is this all you can do after these years, just stand there!" B.A. yelled

"What would you have me do? I swore I would never bring you any harm and I never will."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" B.A. let a massive blow loose that sent Dusk sliding back.

"This isn't what I envisioned all those years. For me to feel satisfied you need to be at 100, I'll just take the part and wait for the right opportunity." B.A. walked toward Dusk's bruised and battered body. As she reached for the part Dusk knocked her hand away.

"My job is to see this safely to Maverick Hunter HQ, I can not give it up freely while I still stand." Dusk stood there bruised and with synthetic blood flowing down from open wounds on his arms and chest.

"Well then I guess you'll just have to fall." B.A. held out her hand and some invisible force grasped Dusk and began to squeeze him. The force lifted him off the ground and squeezed him harder, until a popping and cracking sound could be heard. With a devilish smile across her face B.A. noticed something fall to the ground, it was a buster cover. She walked over and picked it up.

"Well it's a little dirty, what with your blood on it, but I have what my master needs now." The force let Dusk go and he fell to the floor. His body broken he looked up at the woman he thought was dead and watched as she walked over to him.

"Thanks." Was all she said as she teleported away, leaving Dusk lying in the dirt. As he lay there his thoughts were distraught with reasons why Aura was still alive. He was positive that the entire town was destroyed and everyone that lived there was killed. So how, how could she still be alive and why did she blame him so much? These thoughts whirled in his head until he blacked out. When he finally lost consciousness his onboard computer initiated his ETS and sent him to the HQ.


	13. Sky Fight

Next chapter's up and we have another fight for you all enjoy._  
_

_Chapter 13_

_Sky Fight_

2 Days before Dusk's lose.

Dawn sat on a counter patiently, the buster part she was waiting on was being finished right in front of her. She watched as the technician typed on his computer, she was about to ask what he was doing when she got a call over her radio.

"Dawn can you hear me?" It was Night's voice coming over the receiver.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I'm about to head out with my part and I just wanted to see how much longer you were going to be?"

"The techs say soon, have you talked to Dusk?"

"Yeah he says that he'll be there for a while. He wasn't exactly happy about sitting around doing nothing for two weeks." Night laughed a little.

Dawn smiled, "That sounds exactly like him."

"Well be careful ok I'm heading out."

"Right be careful oniichan." Night signed off and Dawn retracted her comm set.

"So are you almost finished?" Dawn asked the tech.

"I am finishing the last of the checks on the buster's operating system give it a bit more time."

Dawn let out a little sigh, she like Dusk did not like to wait around for things. About half an hour later the tech turned around in his chair and gave her the news she was waiting for.

"Alright everything checks out you can take the chip to HQ, just let me put the scrambler on it."

"Scrambler?"

"Yes it sends out a signal that disrupts teleportations, it's also a way of tracking it."

"Wait this thing can be tracked, that just makes my job harder then doesn't it."

"Don't worry it transmits a signal that only Hunters can pick up."

"Well just to be safe give me another chip with the exact same tracking signal. If it can be tracked by anyone that wants to steal it having a decoy will definitely throw them off track."

"Alright I'll do it."

A few minutes later the tech presented Dawn with two chips, the real one she kept the fake she gave to Solaris. She thanked the tech and left heading for the roof. On the roof Dawn checked her visor for the quickest direction to the HQ. After getting her course she bent down to Solaris.

"Ok we fly as fast as we can if anything happens just keep going, the job comes first."

Solaris looked up at her owner and meowed her understanding, Dawn smiled at her, "Good kitty, let's go." Both of them took off flying through the air at their top speeds, Dawn had calculated that it would take 10 min. for them to arrive without interference.

Watching from a building three reploids watched as Dawn and Solaris flew past.

"Well can I take action now my lord?" Inferno Phoenix asked.

"Very well see if you can stop them, but if you fail expect your death to take you quickly."

"As it should." Phoenix bowed, spread his wings and took off. He was on them in a second crashing through the two of them. The contact caused Dawn and Solaris to land on a near by roof. Both of them turned and faced their assailant who was hovering in the sky looking down at them.

"I take it your Inferno Phoenix, my brothers told me about you."

"I am here to take the weapon part and face you in combat. Do not give me the dishonor your brothers did by holding back."

"I don't fight any other way." Dawn took off toward Phoenix brandishing her tonfas. She brought one toward Phoenix's face, he countered by guarding. Dawn spun around using her momentum she ignited the tip on her tonfa and brought it around to slash at his chest. With a flap of his wings Phoenix managed to back away with only a small scratch on his chest.

"Not bad now how about we get serious." Dawn said

"Very well." Phoenix began to emit a high heat signature and a ring of flames formed around him.

"Now that is impressive." Dawn said as she morphed her buster and held her tonfa at the ready.

The ring of flames surrounding Phoenix soon took the shape of balls. The fiery spheres rotated behind Phoenix and slowly began to stop. When they stopped Phoenix reached back, grabbed one and it took the form of a sword.

"Sword of Flames."

"Big deal let's see how your sword matches up to my Sunrise buster."

Dawn let loose a charged shot, just like the time with Dusk Phoenix made no movements of retreat. Instead he held his sword horizontally in front of him and the blast engulfed him. Dawn looked on confident that her attack had wiped out her opponent.

"Is that the best your pee-shooter can do?" Phoenix asked. Dawn looked at him and saw that he had not moved from his position in the sky. She also noticed that although he was not injured his sword was shattered.

"You can mock my weapon after what it did to your sword, that's really dumb."

"You think my weapon broken, when in fact its true form has been released." Phoenix held his sword in front of him and a spark erupted from the broken blade and fire spewed forth.

"Now you see why it is called the Sword of Flames, prepare yourself." Phoenix charged at Dawn his now flaming weapon ready to strike her. Dawn drew her other tonfa and prepared to fight hand to hand. Phoenix brought his sword down on her and Dawn held up her tonfas to block. The intense heat coming from the sword was unbearable to Dawn and the sword hadn't even touched her. Dawn broke off the lock and flew back, when she had enough room she began to twirl her tonfas. As they began to spin like buzz saws Dawn lunged at Phoenix bringing one of the spinning weapons at his midsection. Phoenix blocked with his sword and reached back and grabbed another of his fiery orbs.

"Hell's Flame." This orb took no shape but a simple flame.

"What does he hope to do with that, increase his sword's power?" Dawn thought as she brought her second tonfa overhead to cut down her opponent's chest. As her weapon got close to Phoenix the flame snaked its way around Dawn's arm and continued to move across her body. Dawn screamed in pain as she tried to cast the flames off her body.

"That won't work girl, my Hell's Flame will continue to burn until you die." Phoenix drew his sword back into a fighting stance, "Don't worry I will release you from the pain soon. Fire-Kenpo Inferno Slash!!!" Phoenix charged at Dawn, his sword's flame beginning to move in a spiral motion. As Phoenix past Dawn he slashed at her with her sword the spinning flame of the sword slashed across her chest scorching and cutting her armor. Despite the attack Dawn did not fall like Phoenix expected.

"This girl is strong to have survived my attack, however she will not survive a second one." He thought to himself as he prepared to attack again.

"I can't take another of those strikes and these flames aren't helping matters either. I have to find a way to get rid of them." Dawn took in her surroundings trying to find anything that would extinguish the flames. Then it struck her, "Duh how could I be so stupid?" She flew straight down towards one of the buildings and crashed through a window. Inside the building Dawn stood still and a moment after she had gotten in the fire alarm went of and the sprinklers over head erupted spewing water down onto the room and the enflamed Dawn. "Aren't I just the cleverest person?" Dawn said to herself as the flames were quickly extinguished. With the fire out Dawn morphed both of her busters charged them up and took off out the window. To Phoenix's surprise Dawn flew straight at him with his Hell's Flame gone.

"Resourceful girl, however I still have one last orb to use." Phoenix reached back and retrieved his final orb, "Phoenix Flame." This time the orb engulfed Inferno Phoenix in flames. Dumbstruck by what her opponent had just done Dawn looked at him trying to figure out his tactics. She didn't wait long as Phoenix began to fly straight at her, the flames surrounding his body beginning to spin. "He's going to do a kamikaze run, that's just crazy." Dawn thought as she let off one of her charged shots. Phoenix again made no motion to dodge the blast, but this time nothing stopped it from hitting him. He took considerable damage, yet continued to fly at Dawn.

"Crazy bastard!!!" Dawn yelled as she let her second shot fly, this one hit Phoenix as well sending him off his trajectory. He crashed into a building causing a massive explosion. Dawn landed on a roof near the burning building and she watched in horror as the mangled, burning corpse of Inferno Phoenix split open revealing another Inferno Phoenix. As the newly born maverick rose from its previous body it flew into the air.

"Now to finish this battle." Phoenix spoke as he spread his wings.

Dawn stood there looking at him and all she could think of was how pissed off she was for not realizing this sooner. "He's a Phoenix so of course he would rise from his own ashes, that's why he set himself on fire and dived at me. Damn I'm so stupid." Her rage building Dawn leapt off the roof and flew straight for Phoenix. At the incredible speed she was flying she was right in front of Phoenix before he could realize it.

"Piss me off will you!" Dawn yelled as she hit Phoenix right in the gut and then kneed him as hard as she could in the groin.

"What kind of warrior fights like that?" Phoenix wheezed through his pain.

"The kind that has a job to do." Dawn said as she stuck her buster right in Phoenix's face a fired.


	14. Light and Dark

Next chapter enjoy and R&R, thanks._  
_

_Chapter 14_

_Light and Dark_

Dawn hovered in the air as Phoenix's headless body fell to the ground, the two cloaked figures stood and watched as he fell in battle. They looked at each other and one nodded to the other and then a second later he was gone. Dawn turned to where they were standing and noticed that only one of the two mavericks was there.

"Where's the other one?" She began looking around drastically, trying to find him. Turning around she was startled to find that the cloaked maverick was right behind her. Dawn fired her boosters putting some space between her and the maverick.

"My apologies for scaring you." The maverick said as he bowed, "It was not my intention to surprise you, well maybe a little. Now please hand over the part you are carrying and we can let you go."

"Sorry but I have a job to do and no one is stopping me from doing it."

"Ah and here I was hoping that we could finish this messy business and go get something to eat."

A dumbstruck expression came over Dawn's face, "What!?!" Dawn just looked on as the cloaked figure threw off his cloak. He wore a white armor with black details and, "He's hot." Dawn thought to herself as she looked at him.

"Well how about it, it would be my pleasure to take you out."

"This can not be happening a hot guy is actually asking me out but he's an enemy. Why me?" Dawn thought as she continued to look at the maverick.

"Hikari hurry it up and you better not be asking her out." Yelled the other one from the building. Hikari looked down at his brother, a sweat drop sliding down his face.

"Ah he just had to go and say something." He said in front of Dawn. He turned to his brother and yelled, "Yes oniisan I'm on my way right now with the part." Turning back to Dawn, "Now my fair maiden if you would please hand over the part."

"I thought I told you forget it." Dawn said as she took off flying as fast as she could toward the HQ. Flying at her top speed Dawn rocketed through the sky however she stopped suddenly because Hikari was waiting for her. "How?"

"Ah where ever there is a beautiful vision I will be there, especially if they are trying to run away from me." Hikari morphed his buster and pointed it right at Dawn, "Now for the last time, hand over the part."

"You're really starting to piss me off." Dawn shot up higher into the sky, again morphing her buster and letting off a few shots. As if by magic Hikari moved through the shots as if they were nothing. Dawn watched in amazement as he continued to come closer and closer to her. With her tactics failing Dawn headed toward one of the buildings to think of something.

"I see my younger brother is skirt chasing again." A voice said from behind Dawn. She turned around and thought she was looking at Hikari, but the armor he wore was colored differently, all black with white detail and a mask covering the lower part of his face. The maverick walked out from the shadow he was standing in and right up to Dawn. "Now I'm not like him so," He quickly drew his buster and pointed it right in her face, "give it to me now." Unlike Hikari he was all business, cold and straight to the point.

Following after Dawn Hikari landed on the roof behind her and saw that his brother had decided to step in. "Yami you didn't need to get involved, I can handle this."

"Sure you can that's why we're still here, because you're handling it!" Yami said in anger as his younger brother backed away and said nothing else. Dawn's mind was running through many possibilities, she could not think of anything to ascertain the powers that the brothers had.

"Ok running didn't work looks like I'll have to fight it out, but I doubt I can take on both of them. Ah what should I do?" Dawn was panicking; however she recalled something Dusk had told her once. "Listen Dawn, when you're facing strong opponents instead of trying to out power them; out think them. An old proverb said that with a sword you can defeat one opponent, but with tactics you can defeat a thousand."

Dawn knew what she had to do now, "Thanks oniichan." She thought to her self. Yami had finished scolding his brother and turned his main focus back to Dawn, "Now have you gained a brain or do you wish to die."

"Sorry, but it's neither." Dawn shot into the sky as high as she could. "Solaris!" the cat support unit beamed right onto her owner and merged with Dawn. "Ok with Solaris merged with me I have both chips, so I can use this to my advantage. Now to match their speed, Agility mode." The box type armor surrounding Dawns arms and legs shrank and formed themselves tightly to Dawn's armor. The newly formed armor allowed Dawn to move at much higher speeds, but she lost most of her offensive capabilities. In the blink of an eye Dawn moved back down to Hikari and Yami who were not impressed with Dawn's change.

"Is this supposed to help you?"

"Ah she's much more beautiful now."

"Solar buster!" Dawn let loose with a charged shot devastating the roof top.

"My my destructive aren't you?" Dawn turned around to see Hikari and Yami floating behind her.

"How?" She was sure she didn't see them move when she fired. Looking at them she thought she saw faint sparkles falling off their bodies, white from Hikari and black from Yami. "Maybe they use some sort of teleportation." She thought.

"Hikari we're finishing this now. Link up." Yami commanded.

"Sure oniisan." Hikari began to glow; the same lights Dawn saw falling off of him were starting to spread over his body. In fact his body was starting to become the lights.

"So that's how they moved so fast, they can change into light." Dawn's realization gave her some insight into her opponents now. As Hikari completely broke down into light he swarmed to his brother. The lights were absorbed into Yami's body and Yami began to shine with a black light. "Now we begin the Ballad of Light."


	15. Fight's End and Beginning

Not much to say, title chapter says it all. Enjoy 

_Chapter 15_

_Fight's End and Beginning_

The black light coming from Yami was swirling around him, almost as if they were dancing. "Light Waltz." Yami said and the lights paired up and moved toward Dawn. Dawn ran toward the edge of the building, trying to jump off into the sky, but the lights caught up to her and encircled her. The lights positioned themselves around her and sparks began to link up between them. The sparks created a field entrapping Dawn, she tried to break free but she felt a strong pull that kept her in place.

"The dancing lights will keep you where you are while we retrieve the chip you so strongly feel like delivering." Yami walked toward her, she was completely helpless forced to stay in the field. She continued to bang on the field, but to no avail.

"I guess I'll have to play my trump card." Dawn thought to herself and she tapped a switch on her wrist activating a remote signal. The signal broadcasted to a container down on the street, when the signal reached the container the top opened and out came a flying ride armor. The armor shot into the sky flying toward Dawn's location, charging it's weaponry as it went. Back on the roof Yami had reached into the field and grabbed Dawn, squeezing her arm with great force.

"Now give me the chip!" He said enraged. The pressure building on her arm was unbearable, her sensors were stressing that her armor was about to crack.

"Ok fine I give." Dawn said. She retrieved the chip and held in her hand. "Excellent, now we're getting somewhere. Now just hand it…" Yami looked past Dawn and saw the ride armor moving towards them, he looked back at Dawn, enraged again. "You little bitch!" He held out his hand converging some light into a blade, he brought his hand up and was bringing it down when the ride armor fired its cannon. The triple shot came flying at Yami who, like before, disappeared and moved to behind the ride armor. He used his blade to cut the armor in half causing a massive explosion. When the explosion went off the field surround Dawn vanished and the force blew her back, causing her to drop the chip. "No!" She cried as the chip fell from her hand.

As she landed from the explosion Yami again appeared out of nowhere, this time in front of the chip. He bent over and picked it up, "Well this was a hassle to get. All this trouble just for a chip."

"Drop it or I'll drop you!" Dawn yelled as she got back up. Yami merely looked at her and waved, now enraged herself Dawn took off moving as fast as she could. She leapt at Yami but he vanished again and didn't appear again. Landing on the ground Dawn converted back to her normal merged mode and separated from Solaris. She plopped herself down next to her cat and stroked her head. "Let's head to the base so we can get something to eat, cause all that acting made me hungry." Dawn grinned at Solaris who meowed and dropped the chip she was holding in her mouth into Dawns hand.

_Location: Atlantic Ocean_

It had been ten minutes since Night left the ocean research base with the buster's power core and in that ten minutes it took only five for an ambush to happen. Night was picking off sea drones that were jumping up from the ocean trying to drag him in. He was riding on Lunaris, who was in jet mode, "This is becoming annoying, we're not making any progress and plus shooting drones is just boring." Lunaris barked his agreement and shot away from the drones.

Beneath the water Deep Kraken was commanding his forces to bring Night down to where they would have the advantage. "What do you mean he's getting away, bah you useless idiots. Do I have to do everything myself?" Deep Kraken shot through the water in pursuit of his prey. In the water Deep Kraken was incredibly fast, he caught up to Night in no time and jumped out of the water grabbing Night and dragging him under the waves. "Now welcome to my world." Deep Kraken said.


	16. Deep Trouble

Another chapter a new fight, enjoy.

_Chapter 16_

_Deep Trouble_

"I was careless." Night thought to himself as he faced Deep Kraken below the sea. "Most of my weaponry won't work under water and my buster will loose at least half of its strength. Not to mention the fact I'm fight someone who is skilled at underwater combat, this just my actually to turn out to be a good workout." Night gave a little grin; he tended to like being faced with hard challenges. As Night sank to the bottom of the ocean he continued to pick off Deep Kraken's flunkies that were still trying to take him out. Even with half power his Starlight buster was more than enough to blow them away. However Deep Kraken hadn't dragged Night down into the water just so he could watch his men die, he intended to kill the mercenary and take the part he possessed.

"Alright boys get out of the way it's time for me to finish this operation." Deep Kraken bellowed and his men broke off their attack leaving Night, now on the bottom, to fight one on one with their boss. Deep Kraken shot down at Night letting loose a barrage of torpedo fire. Night used his surroundings to his advantage and jumped much higher than he could on land and dodged the torpedoes. Still off the ground Night let loose some blasts from his buster, but Deep Krakens speed in the water was faster than his shots. Deep Kraken easily swum around each blast as if they were moving in slow motion.

"Stupid squid I'm going to turn you into calamari when I get through with you!"

"I'd like to see you try, you can barely keep up with me how do you suppose that you're going to finish me off."

Night landed back on the ground and let loose another round of shots from his buster and again Deep Kraken dodged them like child's play. As he dodged the last shot Deep Kraken swam over Night's head and let loose a cache of depth charges. "Let's see how you like my special Kraken Charges."

The Kraken Charges fell through the water toward Night; they didn't seem at all different from normal depth charges. Yet, when they were close enough to their target the Kraken Charges sprouted tentacles and shot towards Night. Night began to dash away trying to dodge the weapons, but as some of them got close they erupted sending a shockwave through the water. Night was knocked off balance by the wave and the rest of the charges that didn't explode wrapped themselves around Night's body and exploded, causing Night to scream out in pain.

Deep Kraken began to laugh, "Yes that's the sound I love, my prey screaming in pain." He continued to laugh watching the area where Night stood, now clouded by the sea bed debris. As the mud cloud faded away Night stood with his buster fully charged and let loose the shot at the unsuspecting maverick. "Don't ever let your guard down around me." Night said as he watched the blast fly toward his enemy. As the blast went Deep Kraken stopped laugh and looked at the blast and smirked, "Kraken Charge" Deep Kraken let loose more of his special weapon and they all swam toward Night's blast. The combined impact of all the charges and Night's blast caused an even greater shockwave than the last.

Regaining his composure from the wave Night looked around to find Deep Kraken, who had disappeared when the shockwave occurred. "Damn stupid squid where'd he go?" Night said frustrated. He couldn't see much from the bottom because of all the mud and dirt that had been kicked up, so he leapt up again to get a better view of the area. However this was what Deep Kraken was waiting for, he shot out of the clouded water and wrapped himself around Night. He began to squeeze him enough so that he could hear Night's armor crack, "Once I've broken your body I'll take your part and leave you on the ocean floor broken and beaten."

"Cocky for an over grown appetizer aren't you?"

"You smug little bast…" But Night cut Kraken off with a head butt; the surprise from the attack caused Kraken to loosen his grip a little. With the hold loosened Night grabbed his beam lance and ignited one of the ends close enough to Krakens body so that it would do some damage. With a beam puncturing his gut Deep Kraken released Night and clutched at his wound.

"Lunaris merge mode S!" Night cried out as he fell back into the clouded water. Breaking the water's surface Lunaris shot down towards his master and in the cloud a bright light erupted signaling that the two had become one.

"Bah so what if you merge with the mutt, your beam weapons still will only be at half strength." Deep Kraken taunted confident that he could still win.

The cloud finally settled back onto the ground revealing Night in his merged armor, his helmet now had a clear face plate and his boots were now equipped with propellers. His color scheme changed with the ocean background and his buster was no longer an energy weapon, it now had a clip with micro-torpedoes loaded in it. Deep Kraken could not believe what he was seeing, his opponent was now equipped for an underwater battle.

"Now we'll see who's fast in the water." Night kicked on his propellers and shot right at Deep Kraken much faster than Deep Kraken himself could move. As Night came closer to Deep he let loose a barrage of torpedoes in a wide arc so that Deep couldn't avoid them all. About half of them hit the target causing synthetic blood to flow into the water. Deep Kraken was now reeling in pain and Night was now right above him, with his new solid lance drawn. "Time to end this fight."

Deep Kraken removed one of his tentacles and it formed into a trident, he looked up at Night and said, "I agree."

Both rushed one another their weapons ready to strike down the other and as they passed one another they each swung their weapon. They floated in the water silently for a moment after they passed and then Night yelled as he clutched the deep gash across his chest. Deep Kraken turned and smiled, "Cocky little punk."

"You should look at your self before you write me off yet." Night said panting.

Deep Kraken looked himself over seeing only the damage from the torpedoes, "There's nothing wrong with me." He said as he looked back at Night who had just thrown his lance at him, but it was different than before. The lance had now become a four pointed throwing weapon and was cutting through the water at an incredible speed. Deep Kraken watched as the spinning weapon came and went and returned to it owner. At first nothing seemed wrong, that is until is vision began to slide apart. He had been cut in half right down the middle and his remains soon exploded in a hail of torpedo fire. "I would say don't go to pieces on me, but that's what I wanted from him." Night said as he floated back to the surface. As he reached the surface he unmerged from Lunaris, got on his back and rode Lunaris to the HQ.


	17. What Comes Next

The jobs are done now we see what's going on after Dusk's fight, enjoy and leave some reviews.

_Chapter 17_

_What Comes Next_

The present:

Night and Dawn sat in one of the lounges in HQ waiting on for Dusk to arrive. It had been a week since either of them talked to him and since their own missions were finished. Both had managed to deliver the buster part assigned to them, now all that was left was for Dusk's piece to arrive then the Hunter techs could assemble and begin testing on the buster. Dawn was impatiently flipping through a magazine while Night sat perfectly calm sipping at a cup of coffee. Lunaris and Solaris lay curled up under the table, yet popped their heads up every time someone came in the room.

During the mission X and Zero had stayed in HQ guarding the parts already there with their squads. They were busy though, for an attempt to steal the parts was made by three mavericks. They were incredibly strong and managed to take out at least half of the guards before being brought down by X and Zero. Their uncles had told them about this when the both of them returned, they wanted to know if the attacks they experienced were connected.

"Well the mavericks that attacked me were just a contingent of sea troops with one general, but they were pretty well organized. They knew where the lab was and where to set an ambush for me." Night said as he put down his cup.

"Well one of the mavericks that attacked me was one of the four that tried to double cross you and Dusk, and wasn't the general who attacked you one of them as well?" Dawn asked

"Yeah Deep Kraken was there, so that makes two out of the four."

"Make that three out of four." Zero added, "Frost Mandrill was among the mavericks who tried to break in, but he was taken out before getting through the door."

"Well if those three are accounted for then that just leaves Bloody Crimson."

Dawn looked over to her brother worried, "Do you think Dusk will be alright? I mean it wasn't just Phoenix that attacked me, those two brothers were there too and I could barely touch them."

Night patted her on the head; "There's nothing to worry about Dusk knows how to take care of himself…" before Night could finish an alarm began to flash. A voice came on over the loud speaker, "Emergency Teleport incoming, medical teams report to Transport Room 2. I repeat…"

X activated his comm. System, "This is X who's the teleport?" The voice answered back, "The designation code reads AW-002, it's Dusk sir." The others looks became grave and serious. All of them dashed out of the room running to the Transport Room.

"The only way our ETS systems activate is if we're severely damaged, what the hell could have happened to him?" Night thought as he rushed ahead of the others. Reaching the room before anyone else the four saw Eclipse sitting in the room howling. When they saw Dusk they could not believe what they were seeing, Dusk laid on the ground his body broken. His left arm lay across his chest, while his right lay next to him shattered. His legs were crushed severely and his body was covered in puncture wounds and bruises. Night and Dawn rushed to their brother's side, "Dusk can you hear me? Wake up!" Dawn pleaded with her brother.

Hearing Dawn's voice Dusk opened one eye and looked up at his siblings, he half smiled at their sight. Dawn began to cry looking at her brother and Night just bent down and asked, "Who did this to you?" Dusk shook his head, "Later." He mumbled and with his left hand he pointed to Eclipse and mumbled again, "Cover." He coughed and spat up some synthetic blood. The medical team had arrived at that point and picked Dusk up off the floor and put him on a stretcher. From the spot they took him from all that was left was a pool of his blood. As they rushed him to the medical room the others followed, listening to what the medics had to say, "He's lost a lot of blood." "Get the stasis pod ready!" "His self recover systems are fried, we may need to operate." As they wheeled him in the medical room Night and the others were stopped and told to wait outside for news. Dawn sat on a bench still crying, X sat next to her trying to comfort her, Zero sat on an opposite bench and watched the door patiently, and Night stood at the door where he was stopped. Night's rage was boiling over he turned and slammed his fist into the wall, creating a large hole. Eclipse whined and lay down next to Zero, watching the door as well.

An hour passed and everyone had calmed down a bit, they all sat and watched the door waiting for any news on Dusk's condition. Eclipse had gotten up and put his head on Zero's lap still whimpering. "Shh it's ok boy they'll fix him up." Zero said patting Eclipse on the head. As he patted Eclipse on the head Zero noticed something odd about the wolf. "Night does Dusk put a collar on Eclipse?" Night turned to his uncle with a mixed look, "What does that matter now?"

"Just answer me."

"No he doesn't." Zero took off something that was around Eclipse's neck, "Well it looks like he did before coming here look." Zero handed Night the part that he had taken off Eclipse. "It looks like Dusk knew he was going to loose and gave Eclipse the part for safe keeping. That nephew of mine is something else to of planned that far ahead."

"So that's why he pointed to Eclipse and said cover before passing out." Night looked at the part in his hands; it was covered in dry blood and looked ragged. Tears began to swell in his eyes, "That idiot."

Another hour passed and finally the doctors came out, they were almost tackled by Dusk's family. Through the repeatedly asked questions of if Dusk was alright the doctors told them that he was going to be fine, but he needed some replacement parts and a night in a recovery pod. Everyone was relieved to hear it; the doctors also said that when he gets out tomorrow he would need to rest for a while. They all agreed to not let Dusk go anywhere until he had a clean bill of health. With the worst behind them they went in to see Dusk, who was floating in his pod.

"Jeez he still looks so beat up." X said.

"He almost looks like back when he was still being put together by dad, minus the bruises though." Night commented.

"Come on we shouldn't be hanging around too long, we don't want to get in the doctors way." Zero said as he turned and walked toward the door, no one noticed the smile on his as he left. The others left and returned to their rooms, relieved that tomorrow they would be able to figure out what happened to Dusk.

The next morning came and everyone was anxious to hear what Dusk had to say. They all met at the waiting room and went to the Medical Room from there. "You think he's awake yet?" Dawn asked. "Yeah he's probably awake by now, but remember don't get him worked up or anything, ok." Night said looking at Dawn. She nodded her understanding as they continued to walk toward the room. As they reached the room they were confronted by a worried stricken doctor, "He's not in the pod and his support unit is gone too." The four just looked at the doctor in disbelief.

"How could you not know he left!?!" Zero fumed.

"Well he hasn't left HQ because sensors say he never left the building." X said after checking the logs. Night turned on his heels and headed out of the room, Dawn followed his lead. "Where are you going Night?" Night just continued walking heading down toward the cafeteria. "Dusk doesn't like being in one place for too long and he especially doesn't like being in pods. So he must be down in the" He walked into the cafeteria and sitting at a table was Dusk and Eclipse eating a large breakfast. Dusk looked up from his meal and waved at his family, "Morning." He said as if nothing had happened to him the day before. Night stormed over to him slammed his hand down on the table and said, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well it's obvious isn't it, Eclipse and I were hungry. See how you feel when you get beat to the brink of death."

"And you say my jokes are twisted," Night took a seat opposite Dusk; the others joined them at the table, "so care to tell us about what happened?"

"Sure after breakfast though." Dusk said as he ate another piece of bacon. After he had finished eating Dusk told his story, how he was ambushed, about losing the ride chaser (Zero gave him a wincing look when he heard that), his fight with Bloody Crimson and Mirror, and how he gave the part to Eclipse while removing his own buster cover as a replacement.

"So those two did all that damage to you?" X asked

Dusk looked down at his cup of coffee, "No it wasn't just those two."

"Then there was someone else there then, who was it?" Dawn asked

"You're not going to believe me but it was Aura." Night and Dawn looked shocked, X and Zero didn't know what the big deal was. "Can we ask who Aura is?" X piped up. Dusk didn't say anything, but Night turned to his uncles to give an explanation.

"Aura was Dusk's old girlfriend, they were very close."

"So what happened she turn maverick or something?"

"No she's actually just a little younger than Dusk, maybe about Dawn's age."

"But that would mean she's pre-Cataclysm." X said surprised.

"Yeah just like us she was made before all that mess happened, but the thing is she died during it."

"She died, then maybe it was a replica to get Dusk off his guard." Zero said.

Dusk looked back up, a grim expression on his face, "No it was definitely her, and she mentioned things that only the real Aura would know. She knew all the details of the day the town was destroyed and I could feel that it was her when she hit me. All that rage and anger that came from her punch was enough proof." He rubbed his cheek and took a sip of his coffee. Night looked at his brother, he felt sorry for him, and all that sad past that they had left behind was starting to peek out from under its rock. They all had something they lost during that tragic time, but it had been a century since it happened and they had learned to move on.

Dawn put her hand on Dusk's shoulder, "What do you want to do now oniichan?" she asked. Dusk sat there for a moment thinking things over in his mind, "All the parts are here right?"

"Yeah they started putting it together last night."

Dusk looked at his family and stood up, "I say we stay here and wait until the tests are completed. If they attack again I want to be here to get some answers. Is that ok with all of you?" They all smiled and stood up with him.

"Sounds good to me." Night said.

"If you're sticking around then I'm not going anywhere." Dawn chimed in.

"We could always use the help." X sat as he put his hand on Dusk's shoulder.

"This isn't counting as extra." Zero jokingly said. Dusk looked around and knew that everything was going to be ok. "Alright now that everything is settled I'm getting seconds." Dusk turned and walked back to the kitchen and the others just stood there and laughed.

The table of the council now had less members attending. The ones left were B.A., Hikari, Yami, Meteor and their master. The shadowy lord was not pleased with his soldiers, not only had most of them fallen in battle but the ones that had returned had returned with worthless parts. "I thought that I had trained you all to be the best and what is it that you do nothing but fail me!" The three that had gone out looked down in shame. "Luckily none of you were identified as members of my unit, not surprising since the unit is black ops. However, we now must drop the façade and prepare to come out into the open. We will strike when the tests on the buster are complete, understood!" The four stood and bellowed, "Yes sir!" When they had finished they turned to leave the room, "B.A." The lord said. She turned and walked back to her master, she kneeled down in front of him. "The mercenary you were supposed to deal with is in Hunter HQ now."

"Sir, you agreed that I could handle him as I saw fit. Do not worry he will die by my hand I swear it."

"Good just remember that I did not save you just so you could fail me, if it happens."

"I understand Lord Sageus."


	18. Preparations

No action today just as the title suggest planning and thinking, read on. 

_Chapter 18_

_Preparation_

It had been a week since Dusk arrived at HQ and he didn't once listen to anyone when they told him he should be resting. "My wounds are all healed and my systems say I'm fine, so I'm not going to lay around all day." Was always his argument when someone told him to go back to the hospital wing. Instead he was either at two places; one was being in the R&D sector watching various techs assemble the anti-viral buster or he was in the training room sparring with the hardest programs he could access, Night and Zero had set certain levels for Dusk since he wouldn't listen to either of their warnings. Dusk had spent his week like this all the time trying to put off thinking about what he had to do about Aura.

"She is completely certain that I abandoned her, but she doesn't know everything that happened back then." Her face and what she wanted from him were all that he could think about. "Her anger and hatred toward me will never fade if she doesn't fight me in an all out battle, but it's so hard to imagine that the girl I remember could let anger and hatred consume her so much." His thoughts on this subject always came to him in the training room, he always thought better when fighting his mind was always focused then. After a three hour session one day he came to a decision, "I have no choice in the matter anymore if she wants to fight me so bad to prove something, then I'll do the same. I'll show her my conviction with my fist." With his mind made Dusk walked back to the R&D sector, the buster was nearing completion and the techs would begin testing in about a day or two. It was within this time that the mavericks would strike, the buster was their goal and no one saw them giving up so easily. However there was a question raised from the ambushes, how did the mavericks know when and where Night, Dusk and Dawn would be taking their parts and how did two mavericks get into HQ so easily. X thought it a good idea to hold a briefing to go over these details.

"Now as everyone here knows", X addressed his and Zero's unit as well as his nephews and niece, "the details of this operation have been of highest secrecy. However all of our operations have been attacked by what appears to be a specific group of mavericks; they know when to attack and where to attack. This means that it is possible there is a leak, so from now on all information regarding aspects of the operation will be going through Zero and myself. If we feel that your participation in the operation will be changed by the information then we will give you the required information. Is this understood?" The unit members all acknowledged their understanding; however Dawn raised her hand to ask a question. "Yes Dawn."

"Is it possible for mavericks to get a hold of the frequency which the hunters use on tracking devices?"

"Only hunters can get access to the frequencies we use and they're changed every so often so that no one can ascertain the exact frequencies we use."

"Well then it's definite that there is a leak because the chip that I had was equipped with a hunter tracking device. I had two chips and the one they took was the fake with tracking device."

X looked like he had just seen a ghost, "This is a problem then because that tracking frequency was only known to me, Zero and our superiors. This means that we are probably on our own now."

"No surprise there." Dusk muttered. Night elbowed him in the side to quite him down, when it came to top brass Dusk didn't trust them. He thought that they were out of contact with what their people were doing.

"Alright this doesn't change anything, just that from now on anything to do with this operation will be decided by either Zero or myself. Dismissed" The units left the briefing room and returned to their duties. Night, Dusk and Dawn walked toward the front of the room where their uncles stood.

"So what's the plan?" Night asked

Zero turned to face them, "Well we stay on high alert until the tests are complete. Once they are then the buster will be installed into a new hunter unit specifically designed to interface with its programming. After that it'll be useless to anyone else."

"Well so all we have to do is hold the fort for a little while, no problem." Dawn said jokingly. "Joke all you want little sister but I'm not expecting everything to go so easy." Dusk said as he turned and walked out the door, he was heading back toward the training room.

In another HQ Sageus made his way toward the R&D lab, he was expecting good news on his project. As he entered the lab he made his way towards the virus incubation area. He called one of the techs over to inform him of his virus' progress. "Sageus-sama the virus you asked us to design is near completion, it is beyond anything we have on record so far." Sageus looked at his creation; it was ebony red in its container swirling as it incubated. "Excellent, I expect it to be completed in two days." Sageus turned and walked out of the room, all the techs bowing at him as left. Where ever he walked he was always hidden from view, it seemed as if the shadows worked their way around him. It was as if he was merely a phantom that sought to wreck havoc on a world he did not exist in. "Within two days time my plans will come to fruition and the world will belong to me." He began to laugh as he walked down the corridor vanishing into the darkness, his laugh echoing in the empty halls.


	19. Stolen

Massive chapter for your reading enjoyment, remember to review.

_Chapter 19_

_Stolen_

The days seemed to merge together while the assembly and tests were occurring. It wasn't the idea of if the enemy was going to attack, but the idea of when they were going to attack. There was no doubt that the mavericks would come for the anti-viral buster; they had already tried so hard to steal the parts while they were being developed it seemed reasonable that the completed unit would make an even more tempting target. The HQ was on lockdown ever since after the tactical meeting, X and Zero thought it better to not allow anyone to come or go. That wasn't a problem for the only three people who had volunteered to be there, Night, Dusk and Dawn had set up their own schedule to ensure that one of them was always within sight of the anti-viral buster. The two that weren't on watch were with one of their uncles' units guarding the entrances to the R&D area.

The waiting was getting to Dusk he expected any minute to be face to face with Aura. He was apprehensive to what he knew he must do the next time he would face his old love. He hoped that he would not face her while surrounded by others; the matter was private and should be settled privately. At the moment Dusk was with Night guarding the entrances to the R&D area. Despite being on guard Dusk had a far off look to his face as he pondered the events that had taken place. Night, noticing his brother's expression, slapped him hard on the back almost knocking him over.

"What was that for?"

"Just bringing you back to reality, want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what how the love of my life who I thought was dead for a century turns up alive and evil. That just doesn't even sound right." Dusk looked down at the floor depressed after his venting.

"Hey you know it's not your fault what happened to the town; in fact you did everything in your power to protect it. Also if she survived why didn't she come looking for you, I mean I know society was recovery from what happened, and we were keeping a low profile while helping out but she should have tried to find you. I know you think it's a personal problem but I'm just offering my thoughts on the subject." Night put his hand on Dusk's shoulder and looked down at his little brother, "Just try to cheer up a bit ok."

Dusk grinned, "Yeah I'll try." He said softly. The touching sibling moment was broken off when the scramble alarm sounded, the PA system kicked in issuing orders for all units to move out. Apparently a large revolt was happening in a sector and a reinforcement call was received from the HQ in the area. All of the units emptied out leaving a skeleton crew of sorts to man the HQ. This left the HQ occupied by the skeleton crew and the units guarding the anti-viral buster.

"This is just a little too convenient don't you think, oniichan?"

"Convenient, they should have just hung a sign outside saying we'll be back in five minutes. If the attack is coming then it's coming soon."

"Sageus-sama the Hunter HQ has been emptied. Shall I send the attack orders to our squad commanders?" The Comm. officer asked his master.

"Send the order, leave nothing standing." Sageus commanded from his throne. The Comm. officer returned to his station and sent the orders. Sageus looked on pleased with his plans, "Things may have deviated from my original plans, but it is much more enjoyable this way." He began to laugh as he watched the screen displaying his forces move toward battle, the screen showed 400 former irregular hunters marching towards the HQ.

B.A. stood on a roof top with her cloak swaying in the wind; she looked on at the march of her unit. "An attack with an overwhelming force, it appears Sageus-sama is determined to succeed this time."

"Did you ever have a doubt?" She turned around to see Yami and Hikari, also in cloaks, walking toward her. "Our master will not tolerate failure this time." Yami said.

"Of course he wouldn't he was the one who came up with this operation." A new voice said. It was Meteor covered by a tattered cloak obscuring his body.

"Well if it isn't the vice commander, I can't believe Sageus-sama actually put you out in the field." Hikari said.

"Someone had to make sure you idiots didn't mess this up." Meteor said coldly staring at the Hunter HQ.

"Idiots! I'll show you!" Hikari's fists began to glow. Yami quickly grabbed his brother, "What are you thinking even combined we can't match his power, just cool off." Hikari powered down and shot Meteor a dirty look, "Alright fine, I'm out of here." Hikari jumped off the rooftop and made his way to his squad. Yami bowed to Meteor offering his apologies for Hikari and then left to join his brother. B.A. merely looked on and enjoyed the show, "It's not everyone that could impose on those two like that."

"Those two are not even worth my time." He leapt off the roof, leaving B.A. alone. She looked at the HQ again and a smile crossed her face, "Soon Dusk soon." She leapt off like the others and the attack began.

The alarm came right after the first explosion occurred. Hunters were running around preparing to strike back as an army of mavericks marched toward the building. Dusk and Night were scrambling to a window to get a view on the situation. As they peered out the window they saw the massive army with two figures out in the front.

"Well looks like our guests have finally arrived." Night said jokingly.

"Always so carefree in these types of situations." Dusk mumbled to himself, he turned towards one of the sergeants in charge of the Hunters left in the base. "Sergeant have your men station themselves along the windows, two to each. Have them stay low and return fire until we have a plan of attack."

The sergeant saluted and ran to issue Dusk's orders. "Well with the authority Uncle X gave us we should be able to mount a decent defense."

"Yeah, but a defense may be all that we can do. We need to mount an offensive, but I doubt we can spare anyone to attack."

"Well I wouldn't say that oniichan; there is the two of us."

Night looked at his younger brother, "Now who's acting carefree?"

"If you don't believe me then just watch, Eclipse come with me." Dusk and Eclipse turned and walked away toward the Sergeant. "Sergeant I want your men to charge the weapons to max and fire on my signal." The sergeant relayed Dusk's orders and the sound of humming weapons began to fill the air. Dusk morphed both of his busters and began to charge them as well. "Setting buster output to wide range fire. Diverting energy from all nonessential systems, buster charge at 135." Dusk's weapons readings were at the point he wanted he turned to the sergeant and issued the order to fire. Streams of weapons fire rain down from the HQ, the fully charged shots decimating everything in their path. As the beams rained down Dusk and Eclipse leapt from the window following the last of the fire. Landing on the ground Dusk pointed both of his busters at the troops before him, "Eat this, DOUBLE SUNSET BUSTERS!!!" A mighty blast erupted from Dusk's busters consuming a wide area in its blast. The soldiers engulfed in the blast were annihilated, yet there were still plenty left and they retaliated immediately. Dusk and Eclipse dove for cover avoiding most of the enemy's barrage.

Meanwhile back up in the HQ Night had seen what his brother had done and just sighed, "Well he was right when he said we should make an offensive. Sergeant what model busters are your men using?" The sergeant turned around from his firing position, "We're using the Mrk. 25 model, although some of the men have stronger weapons." Night looked down at the remaining troops; only about half of them were left after the counter attack and Dusk's little stunt. "How many men do we have left?" The sergeant checked the battle info, "We've lost about 35 of our force." Night turned back from the window, "Sergeant on my signal I want your men equipped with the Mrk. 25 to fire fully charged on my position, do you understand?" The sergeant nodded his head in understanding and went back to inform his men. Like Dusk, Night leapt from the building with Lunaris behind him. He fired off a few shots before landing on the ground and making his way toward Dusk.

"Hey little, brother having fun yet?" Dusk looked back at him and smiled, "Oh yeah, this reminds me of the good old days." They both turned and opened fire taking down a few more soldiers with their shots. "You have anymore of those wide beam blasts left in you?" Night asked. Dusk shook his head, "It was a one shot deal and plus I have to save some of my energy in case we meet up with those guys that attacked us earlier."

"Well then I guess my plan is going to have to mop up the rest of these guys." Dusk looked at his brother with a puzzled look, just what was Night planning on doing. Night shot out from the position they were sitting at and drew his beam staff, he charged right into the invading army slashing away at anyone that was close to him. Right behind him was Lunaris; he was bearing his fangs and claws and using them to rip apart the enemy. Dusk and Eclipse peered out from and saw what they were doing, they looked at each other and Dusk shrugged his shoulders "Guess we couldn't keep this a long distance fight forever, let's go help them out." Eclipse barked in agreement and they both charged out, Dusk drawing both of his beam sabers and Eclipse howling as they ran. Pretty soon the four were in the midst of a massive free for all.

In the HQ X, Zero and Dawn were taking up positions around the lab area entrance. X and Zero were inside the lab while Dawn was guarding the entrance from the outside. The explosions were getting louder and closer, besides the army outside that Dusk and Night were dealing with there was also a squad that had managed to enter the HQ and they were making their way toward the R&D sector.

"Dawn if any of them get through then leave them to use, just focus on defending the entrance." X said through the Comm. System.

"Don't worry Uncle X it's going to take something extremely strong to get past me." Dawn wasn't bragging, she was merged with Solaris ready to take on anyone that tried to pass her. The noises of battle were now almost on top of them and then it happened, the door at the end of the hall exploded and weapons fire began to pour out from it. Dawn immediately took cover and began to return fire, but with the smoke from the explosion she could not see clearly enough to pick out a suitable target. As the smoke cleared she could see that the attackers were infantry type reploids, about 15 in all, and there were two others but both of them were wearing cloaks. "Uh oh those two weird brothers were wearing cloaks like those; I better take care of the cannon fodder quickly." She began to charge her buster, "Uncle X I hope you don't mind what the building looks like after this fight." Dawn said to her uncle over her Comm. X's voice came back over the Comm., "Like I said before just focus on defending the entrance." Dawn smiled as her uncle's voice faded from the receiver, she ducked out from her cover, dropped down on one knee and let her charged shot fly. The blast easily took care of the infantry types but the two cloaked figures were still standing after the blast. Dawn shot towards them determined to stop them from getting past her. One of the cloaked figures turned to the other, "Take care of the girl." It was a male voice and the other responded in a female's voice, "Whatever you say Meteor." As soon as the figure finished talking Dawn stopped in her tracks, but it wasn't her own choice to stop. It felt like something was holding her in place, she tried to break free of the invisible grip but she could not. She watched as the other figure walked right past her, he walked right up to the door, raised his hand as if to knock on it and slightly tapped the door. Instead of a knock though the door was knocked off of its hinges and flew into the room behind it, Dawn couldn't believe the strength she just saw.

"Well it seems that you're impressed with Meteor's strength Dawn-chan." Dawn turned around to look at the other figure that was supposedly behind the invisible force holding her. "Don't talk to me like we're close lady!" Dawn exclaimed. The cloaked figure moved her arm like she was throwing something and Dawn was thrown across the room by the force holding her. "Aw Dawn-chan I thought we were close, after all" she removed her cloak to show that she was B.A. "we were like family a long time ago." Dawn was dumbstruck; even though Dusk had told her that Aura was alive she didn't really expect her to be real. It all seemed so wrong that she would be fighting against Aura.

"So I guess Dusk wasn't exaggerating when he talked about your new power. How exactly are you doing it?" Dawn asked as she got back up.

"Now does a magician reveal his secrets? No, so what makes you think I will?"

"Well then guess I'll just have to beat the answer out of you then." And again Dawn charged at Aura, this time zigzagging around the room hoping that she won't be able to catch her. As she grew closer to B.A. Dawn felt the force hit her, smashing her into the ground. B.A. laughed at her, "Come on now Dawn-chan just stay there and I let you live."

"You'll let me live?" Dawn muttered under the weight of the force holding her down, "You'll 'let' me live?" To B.A.'s surprise Dawn was beginning to get back up on her feet, "Just who the hell do you think you are that you can tell me what to do with my life!" Dawn exclaimed in a rage of anger, she threw the force off of her and charged right at B.A. B.A. stood still, she was a little surprised that Dawn had gotten up, but no one had ever managed to lay a hand on her before. As Dawn prepared to strike B.A. in the face, the punch she threw stopped right in front of B.A.'s face. It was as if Dawn had just hit something that felt gooey, "What the hell is this?"

"I was taking it easy on you Dawn-chan, but now you have to be put down." When B.A. finished talking the gooey substance Dawn had hit began to spread from her arm and completely spread over her body, within minutes Dawn had vanished from sight. B.A. turned and threw her fist toward the wall and out of nowhere Dawn reappeared and shot toward the wall smashing through it and two more walls after it. As she fell to the floor she saw through her hazed vision B.A. and a big blob, but she couldn't tell what it was before passing out.

The battle was going well for Night and Dusk, with just a few more soldiers to deal with after Night had implemented his plan. It was something else Dusk thought, Night had called up to the sergeant and a minute later blasts of charged shots came right at Night. Night had unfolded his beam saber into its four point mode and began to twirl it; he held it up to the blasts and began to absorb the energy into the staff. As he absorbed the last of it the twirling mass of energy seemed as if it would consume Night entirely, instead he turned back to face the arm and the energy spilled out of the staff in the form of a small tornado. It was amazing the tornado shot through the soldiers sweeping them up and obliterating them. When the last of the energy was spent most of the soldiers were gone and Night had ordered an attack. About half of the hunters had leapt from the HQ and were engaging the army's remnants in battle. Night and Dusk were fighting grunts until they spotted the two figures that had been leading the army; they began to make their way toward them hacking at any enemies that got in their way. When they finally reached them the two threw off their cloaks, the mavericks were almost identical expect for their armors. One had white armor with black details and the other had black armor with white details, Night guessed that these were the brothers Dawn had told them about.

"Well I take that you two are Hikari and Yami."

"You would be correct." Yami answered Night.

"I only have one question, who's your boss?" Night asked.

Dusk stepped forward, "And where's Aura?"

"My, my so direct, well as for Night's question I can't answer, but for you Dusk I'll answer your question if you tell me where the lovely Dawn is." Hikari said.

Dusk pointed his buster in Hikari's face, "No you either answer our questions or you won't be needing a hair cut ever again." Hikari smiled and evil grin and vanished. Night and Dusk looked around; they noticed that Yami had vanished as well. "Back to back." Night yelled and they stood back to back moving around to find the two mavericks. Night and Dusk each had a buster pointed out with one hand and in the other they held their respected beam weapon. In a flash of light Hikari reappeared over the brothers' heads and came crashing down. Noticing the attack Dusk pushed Night out of the way and jumped up at Hikari. He slashed with his saber but Hikari vanished again, however Dusk noticed that when he vanished a light seemed to engulf him and he seemed to recall a light when he appeared. When he landed on the ground he rushed over to Night, "I think I know how their doing their little vanishing act." He whispered his idea to Night who nodded his agreement. "We're going to need some extra fire power for this, let's merge and take care of them." Dusk nodded his head and both of them called for their support units, as the canine androids rushed to their masters the light appeared again and both Hikari and Yami were charging right at Night and Dusk. But they were ready for the two mavericks; as soon as the light appeared they turned and fired at it. They managed to clip Hikari, who fell to the ground, seeing what happened to his brother Yami grabbed Hikari and vanished again. Now with the two gone for a moment Night and Dusk merged with their support units and readied themselves. This time numerous flashes erupted around them, but they were in a close proximity and Hikari and Yami were apparently just appearing then disappearing.

"Their trying to confuse us." Night said.

"Don't worry I can handle this, I've been meaning to try a move Uncle Zero showed me." Dusk raised his fist and brought it down to the ground, "SUNSET EXPLOSION!" From his fist erupted a sphere of energy it expanded engulfing the area that Hikari and Yami were flashing in and out of. Noticing what was happening Yami moved out of range of the weapon, but Hikari was not so lucky. He was caught in the blast and stunned from the damage, taking advantage Night pointed his charged buster at him at let loose a Lunar blast that sent him flying.

"HIKARI!!" Yami yelled as he rushed to his brother. He was next to his brother in an instant, "Hikari speak to me."

"Yami, I'm sorry, but it looks like I'm going to die."

"Don't be stupid you can't die yet, I won't let you."

"You can't stop it, but I won't let you battle alone." Hikari began to glow and break down into his light orb form. "I'm giving you the rest of my power, this way we can fight together forever. Goodbye onii-san." And with that Hikari faded away into light orbs, the orbs floated up toward Yami who had begun to cry. As the lights grew close to him he let out a scream of pain and the lights reacted to it swirling around him in a chaotic motion. When he stopped screaming the orbs entered his body and he rose turned toward Night and Dusk and stared at them, "I shall have my vengeance." And then he vanished, the soldiers that were left began to retreat, the battle had been won.

"I feel sorry for them." Dusk said. Night put his hand on his shoulder, "We've seen this before and it never gets any easier, that's what war is nothing but a waste of life." Dusk looked down at the ground and mumbled an offering to those who had died today; he then looked up "We should check on Dawn." Both of them headed back toward the building.

Inside the HQ Dusk and Night made their way to the R&D sector. As they entered the hall they saw the destruction that had occurred, worried they ran to the lab and saw their uncles passed out on the floor. "What the hell happened?" Dusk said as the two ran to check on their uncles. "This is unbelievable who could have done something like this?"

"It was Aura and some guy called Meteor." They both turned around to see a ragged looking Dawn limp into the room. Dusk rushed over to Dawn who was about to collapse. Grabbing her he led her to a chair and sat her down, "Only two mavericks did this, it seems impossible." Night said.

"Oh it's possible, the other guy was unbelievably strong and Aura had some strange power."

"Yeah I know it from first hand experience." Then it dawned on Dusk, "What about the buster is it still here?" Dawn shook her head, "It's gone."


	20. Choices and Decisions

Moving into the final battles soon, so review and enjoy.

_Chapter 20_

_Choices and Decisions_

The cold reality of what had happened hit everyone pretty hard, the base was in ruins. All hunters that were left in the base were putting the injured into the med labs, while the units that were dispatched earlier reported in that the communication they received of a Maverick attack was a decoy. The returning units were immediately dispatched to raise a defense around the base and exact repairs. For Night, Dusk and Dawn they had to put their uncles into stasis pods.

"Who could have done this to them?" Dusk said looking at the two pods in front of him.

"I don't know but the guy was unbelievable strong, he looked like he just knocked on the door when he knocked it off its hinges." Dawn said.

"Well the question now would be what do we do? Do we pursue the case more or do we finish here?" Night asked. Dusk shot him a cocky look, "What else would we do, we're going after them and we're going to bury them."

"Yeah!" Dawn exclaimed. The doctors looked over at the three with a contemptuous look, Dusk and Dawn looked down and apologized and Night let out a good laugh as the three left the med lab. "Ok what we need to do right now is prepare for what we have to do."

"Well what we need is information and supplies."

"Ok we know definite details about two of our opponents, but the third one we know nothing about except that he's a strong bastard." Night said.

"Well checking the security tapes would be a good start and for the supplies," Dusk turned towards Dawn, "you can get us as a couple of sub-tanks from the storage depot."

"Why do I have to get the sub-tanks?"

"Because I said so."

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Enough already, why do you two always have to argue about prep jobs. Dawn just go ahead and get the sub-tanks, Dusk go see if you can get us some extra fire power and I'll go check the security tapes."

"Fine." The two murmured and went off to their work, Night walked to the security room shaking his head. A few minutes later Night walked into the security room, which was in an uproar trying to bring some order back to the base. Night walked over to one of the officers and asked to see the R&D tapes; the officer pointed over to where they were and went back to work. Night shifted through the tapes looking for the tape he needed and there it was. The tape was labeled with the time that the attack happened, so Night took it and went over to an empty monitor and began to view the tape. The monitor flashed on showing X and Zero taking a fighting stance against a hooded figure, the figure threw off his cloak to show a reploid covered in what appeared to be rock armor. X pointed at the reploid and said something to him, the tape had no audio so Night didn't know what he said, the reploid replied and then Zero drew his saber and charged at the reploid. The reploid brought his arm up to block; Night thinking he was crazy to, but the beam blade didn't cut his arm instead the energy seemed to pass into his arm. The other strange thing was that X didn't use his buster but instead fought hand to hand with the guy, which considering his strength was not a good idea. The reploid punched X sending him flying, X's chest plate was smashed to pieces. Seeing what happened to X Zero jumped on the reploid and drove his saber into the reploid's face. Yet again it did nothing; the reploid grabbed Zero and hurled him across the room at X. Night couldn't believe what he was seeing; this guy had dealt with the two best Hunters in the world in less than ten minutes.

"Who is this guy?" Night thought as he captured the reploid's image and checked it against the Hunter database. A hit came back on the image and Night was in shock as to who it belonged to, "Name: Meteor, Hunter Black Ops. 2nd in command. Oh you've got to be kidding me Hunters pulled this job, jeez don't these people screen before hiring someone. It's not like this hasn't happened before, but come on don't they learn from their mistakes." Night continued to go over the information, but what really was surprising was the fact that the records showed that this information was classified up until 5 hours ago. "Just before the attack occurred, we are dealing with some clever bastards. They hide who they are and then when it no longer serves their purpose they release the info, cocky bastards." Night continued to check the data base getting all the info he could.

Meanwhile in the armory Dusk was arguing with the clerk with what Dusk could take and couldn't. "Maybe you didn't get the memo but for the job we were hired for we could take any hardware we needed."

"Yeah well guess what with everything that's happened the top brass have ordered all heavy ordinance to stay on base."

"Screw the top brass, all I'm asking is for one ride armor. You can spare one at least."

"You're not asking for **just** a ride armor you're asking for a Falcon class with extra armaments no less. You want something custom suited to your needs well guess what hot shot, I'm not doing any of it for you. So piss off."

Dusk grabbed the clerk, "Listen just get me what I want and I'll hook it up myself. Even if you don't I'm taking what I want so either do it for me or get out of my way!" The clerk struggled in Dusk's grip.

"Alright, alright I'll see what I can do, now let me go." Dusk let the clerk go, "See doesn't it make you feel good to help someone out." Dusk said as he dusted the clerk off, "I'll be back later so you'd better get to work." Dusk walked out of the armory, "Hated to do that but I don't have time to fool around." He thought to himself as he made his way to the Storage Depot.

As he was about to walk in Dawn was coming through the door carrying a couple of sub tanks. "So how many did you manage to get?" Dusk asked. "I could only get four, so it looks like we'll have to use them sparingly." The two began to walk towards the security room to meet up with Night. "Do you think Night's found anything out?" Dawn asked.

"Hard to say it all depends on what the security cameras captured. Hopefully we have a location to actually go to." They turned a corner and were walking into the busy security station. The hustle of the officers was overwhelming, Dusk and Dawn made their way hugging the wall to the monitor Night was at. Night was yelling orders over at the monitor tech, "Now run the filter and give me a magnified view." Dawn tapped her brother's shoulder, he turned around, "Oh hey you two, you got the supplies all ready?"

"Sub-tanks a plenty."

"I've got the ride armor garage making a custom job for me, should be ready soon. How's everything going here?"

"I've got intell on the guy that attacked Uncle X and Zero, apparently he's Hunter's Black Ops."

"Oh you've got to be kidding, we've gone through all this hell when the damn Hunter's have been pulling the strings."

"That's not all the info on the Black Ops. Unit was classified up until a while ago, that means that our enemies no longer need to hide. All their top personnel, except their boss, have been opened up for anyone to read."

"So we have their location and some intell on their members, I say we pack up and demolish them."

"I agree with Dawn we have to settle this now."

"We're not going until everything is ready, we've been on the defensive this whole time and they've been one step ahead of us at every turn. Now that we're going after them we have to be cautious."

Dusk was anxious to go; he didn't want to wait any longer "How much longer do we have to wait for you to play with the tape?"

"This tape is to help you out idiot; I'm going over Dawn's fight now."

"Dawn's fight? You mean"

"That's right I'm going to level the playing field for you with Aura. The tech over there is running the tape through a filter to scan on different frequencies."

"And this tech just hit pay dirt for you sir. Here you go." The tech inserted the tape and began to play it. The screen flashed on and it showed Dawn and Aura standing across from one another, "This is before the filter is dialed in, watch what happens when it kicks in." The screen then changes tone and becomes a dark red color and standing behind Aura is a Demon-type android.

"What the hell is that because I know it can't be what I think it is, because Demon-types don't exist anymore." Dusk said in disbelief.

"Well that's what it looks like to me sir." The tech commented. Dusk shot him a wicked glance. "Well whatever it is now I know how to fight it. I want a download of the filter program, got it." The tech saluted and went back to his station to get the program ready.

"Well now that we've got that information we can get going as soon as we're ready. Dusk wait here for your download Dawn and I will head to the garage meet us there when you're ready."

"Alright, oh and tell the mechanic that I'll need a remote controlled droid pilot now." Night and Dawn left and Dusk took a seat and waited for the tech to come back.

Mountain Region Black Ops. Base

Sageus made his way to the R&D lab, his troops had finally done something right and brought him that which he desired. As he entered the lab he made his way to the viral incubation station. The techs bowed as he walked past, when he reached the station the tech motioned to the fully developed virus, "As you commanded Sageus-sama we have fully matured your virus and have installed it into a program chip. With your permission we will now install it in the buster and then we will integrate it into your system."

"Excellent proceed with the process." He turned and a wide grin came across his face, "Now that which has been denied me for so long is finally within my grasp. I will become one with my virus and nothing can stop me from corrupting this world." His wicked thoughts moved through his mind as he began to shut down so that the tech could perform the procedure.


	21. Enemy Encounters

Time to start the battle enjoy the destruction.

_Chapter 21_

_Enemy Encounters_

Dusk had finished getting the filter download, so now he could use his visor to see the Invisible Demon that Aura controlled. "Now all I got to do is check up on the ride armor and we can get started with the fun." He said to himself as he walked down the hall. As he passed the R&D section one of the techs ran out to him calling his name. Dusk turned to see it was one of the techs he had gotten to know while he was guarding the buster.

"Yo Desh what's up?"

The female tech handed Dusk two containers, "These are something I've been working on, their advanced nano-mites. They should be able to repair your systems completely in a matter of minutes."

"That's great but I have my self-repair system, that usually gets the job done."

"I know but the system usually takes a while before it's finished, so with this you'll be up to 100 in a matter of minutes."

Dusk took the containers, looked down at them and then looked back at Desh, "You're not using me as a guinea pig are you?"

Desh gave a little giggle, "Of course not, it's been tested before."

"Oh yeah on what."

"Well if you must know on a few appliances in the lab and the big screen in the lounge."

A sweat drop slid down Dusk's head, "I'm not a damn toaster you know, haven't these been used on reploids before?"

"Well no one has wanted to test them for me. But they work on reploids, I used them myself to heal a while ago. I sort of caused a little explosion in the lab a few weeks ago, but I was ok after I used my little friends to fix me up."

"So nothing happened to you, no side effects or anything like that?"

"Nope just a complete recovery, so you'll take them with you right?" She looked up at Dusk with her big purple eyes.

"Ah alright alright I'll take them with me, just don't give me that look." Desh grabbed onto Dusk and squeezed him in a hug, "Oh thank you, thank you I'm so happy that I can help."

"Alright already" Dusk said as he tried to break free from Desh's grip, "I need to get down to the hangar, so loosen up with the death grip."

Desh let go of Dusk and stepped back, "Promise me you'll use them if you're in trouble ok?"

"I already said I would now I have to go alright. See you around." Dusk said as he stashed the containers in his armor and walked of to the hangar. "Bye Dusk-chan!" Desh yelled. Dusk's eye twitched when he heard Desh, "Chan, that little…" Dusk thought as he made his way into an elevator and smiled as he saw the girl tech waving at him as the doors closed.

In the hangar Night and Dawn were waiting over by the ride armor that Dusk had "requested". Dawn looked the armor over and wondered how Dusk had gotten such a kick ass armor. "You don't think he did something to anyone to get this do you?"

"Dusk do something like that you must be joking Dawn." Night said in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah all I did was ask real nice." Dusk said as he came out of the elevator. "So where's the mechanic, you did get the droid pilot I asked for right?"

Dawn hoped off the ride armor, "I asked him but the mechanic said that he gave you enough."

"Oh he did, did he? Well just give me a minute to thank him for what he gave me." Dusk walked over to the info desk where the mechanic was sitting, he took out a credit card and threw it to the old reploid sitting there, "That's for you if you get me the droid pilot I need."

The mechanic looked at the card, "How much is on here?"

"10000 credits, that should be worth all this stuff I'm borrowing."

The mechanic spit the cigar butt he had in his mouth out, got up and shook Dusk's hand, "Deal."

"I knew you were a man of reason."

The old mechanic went into the back and came back a minute latter with a droid pilot, "This should suit your needs. All you got to do is program in the user control frequency and you should be able to control it with your own processor."

Dusk smiled as he looked at it, "Perfect old man just perfect." Dusk walked over and programmed in his control frequency, then closed his eyes and relayed the command for the droid to walk. As he thought it the droid began to move and it walked forward. Dusk then could see even with his eyes closed, he was seeing through the droid's eyes. "This is great."

"I'm glad you approve now take your stuff and get lost I have real work I have to do."

"Alright I'm going." Dusk and the droid began to walk back to the ride armor, Dusk was amazed at the control he had with the droid. This would make getting into the Mav base a bit easier. As he walked up to the others they saw that he got the droid he wanted, "Well can we leave now?" Dawn asked.

"If we have everything then we can." Night said

"Well I say we have everything so let's go." Dusk said as he grabbed hold of the ride armor, with the droid in the pilot's seat, and teleported away with Night and Dawn following close behind.

The Mountain Range base had undergone many changes the soldiers had not questioned the changes. Mostly because they were no longer the elite trained soldiers they once were, Sageus' influence had spread across his base and now they were loyal to him and only him. With the now virus buster bonded to him Sageus now could begin his campaign to move on the Hunters. He had ordered an assembly of all personnel in the main yard, the assembly would be his announcement of his plans to his loyal followers. As he walked along the hall toward the balcony over looking the yard, his remaining generals accompanied him. He was disappointed in his expectations of the reploids he had chosen to lead his army, they were supposed to be the strongest there was. However the loses to the mercenaries were too many, yet he had to move on and deal with them at a later time. Now on the balcony, his generals standing behind him, he looked down at the army before him, which was also lessened because of the same nuisances. In the same way as always Sageus was hidden by darkness, his face obscured as if the shadows themselves were his face.

"My loyal troops now is the hour of which history will be made. From here we will launch the cleansing that was meant to take place so long ago and then we shall take our rightful place as the dominant power on this planet." A holler came up from the ranks of the soldiers, yells that Sageus had not heard from his men in a long time. Sageus looked down at them, sneering with the thought of finally annihilating the human species from the planet. Feeling that the initial incentive has been instilled in his men Sageus turned to return inside the base the hollers and yells still reaching his ears. As he crossed the threshold of the door the yells began to change their tone, from adulation to horror and the following explosions were enough to tell him why. He quickly turned and saw what the cause was, in the sky was a ride armor firing down buster shots. His eyes flared red and a surge of electricity sparked from them, "Dusk." He hissed. The ride armor shot down and knocked a few of the soldiers into the air before shooting back up into the sky.

"If the mercenary is here then he might make it through the troops below I want the three of you to guard the lower levels I expect not to be disturbed while I prepare to 'recruit' our army." Sageus said as he turned and walked back into the building the three generals bowed as he walked by. After he had left they walked over to look over the carnage below, "They'll definitely make it through that ride armor is loaded to the teeth. So Yami you take the first level," Aura said, "I'll take the second level and Meteor can take the third."

"And why should we listen to you?" Yami questioned.

"Because you fool the order sounds perfect we put the weakest of us in the beginning so that they waste their energy and by the time they get to the stronger they will not be a problem." Meteor said. Yami just looked at him with anger, he was not in the mood to be called weak not when his younger brother had given his remaining power and bonded with him. Now he was no longer the same person he originally was, he was possessed by revenge and no longer saw clearly.

"Do not make the idea of underestimating me any longer you walking rock, I'll follow your orders for now." Yami faded into the darkness.

"He's grown arrogant since his brother's death."

"You probably wouldn't understand loss, not that you have any real reason to know it. Well let's be on our way." They walked into the compound letting the yells coming from the yard continue uninterrupted.

"This isn't even any fun anymore." Dusk said as he sat with his eyes closed mentally controlling the ride armor.

"Well you took care of most of them just a little longer and the path will be clear."

"Forget that I'm ending this now."

"How you going to do that Dusk?"

Dusk smirked, "It's simple watch the armor and you may want to lower your visors."

The two looked over to the battle being waged and they saw the ride armor land on the ground. All the soldiers quickly bum rushed the now landed ride armor and started to assault it and try to take it apart. However now they were all in close proximity to the inert ride armor, "And now it's time for the finale!" Dusk held up his hand and pointed his thumb down toward the ground "Boom." A light shone from the ride armor followed by a massive explosion eliminating the remaining troops. Dusk stood up from the rock he was sitting on a walked over to the cliff edge overlooking the base.

"Now that's a show stopper, too bad I had to lose an awesome ride armor."

"You know that was just a bit over kill oniichan."

"Bah over kill nothing I don't have time to deal with grunts, not when someone's waiting for me."

"Well it's not polite to keep a lady waiting Dusk so let's get going." The three of them took off toward the base, sliding down the cliff side. As they got closer to the base they passed by the charred remains of the ride armor strewn with the remains of the soldiers it took with it. Entering the base they proceeded to move up to the second level taking the centralized stair case.

"The layout of the building shows that there are five levels, my guess is that the big boss is on the top floor."

"Why can't they ever be on the first floor cause you know they have people set up to stop us on the way up there." Dawn complained as they continued to run up the stairs.

"Bad guys have to have these complicated plans, it's like a union requirement or something." Dusk joked as they reached the door to the second level. They huddled to the sides of the door Night and Dawn on the right and Dusk on the left.

"Ok busters at the ready we go in on three." Night instructed. He held up three fingers and slowly counted down, when he got to one Dusk kicked open the door and the three of them flew into the room busters up. The room they entered was completely dark, they slowly walked forward ready to fire at any threat.

"Welcome mercenaries and also goodbye." The voice belonged to Yami and no sooner did he finish talking than lasers shot from all corners of the room. The three siblings jumped and dodged the lasers as best they could. Dusk let loose a shot from his buster, Dawn following suit. The light from the shots showed the source of their attackers, laser turrets mounted on the walls. The three began to fire off shots in every direction destroying the turrets. Within a matter of minutes the turrets had been destroyed and holes in the wall were letting light in, illuminating the dark room.

"Very good, but I'm not a motionless weapon" a massive wave of energy swept the room knocking all of them onto the floor, "I am a revenge driven machine and I will not stop until I kill you all for the death of my brother. B.A. is just wasting her time waiting on the next floor."

Dusk sprang back to his feet, "Aura's on the next level? That is what you said isn't it?"

"Don't concern yourself with someone you'll never get to see." Another wave swept the room, this time they were ready and jumped or ducked the wave.

"Dusk go on ahead of us." Night yelled.

"Yeah we can handle this guy." Dawn yelled.

"Are you two sure?"

"Come on do you think we can lose here?"

Dusk smirked and turned to the door, "No I don't think you can." He took off running toward the door. Yami saw what Dusk was doing and finally showed himself moving in front of Dusk. However Night and Dawn both jumped Yami knocking him off to the side.

"Sorry but he has some personal business to attend to." Night said igniting his beam staff.

"Yeah you'll have to just settle for the two of us." Dawn said as she swung a tonfa to rest on her shoulder.

"Thanks you two." Dusk yelled as he ran through the door up the stairs. Running as fast as he could Dusk quickly climbed the stairs. He reached the door in minutes and stood in front of it panting, "Behind this door is a part of my past I haven't been able to face." Dusk thought to himself, "Will I be able to handle this?" He took a deep breath and then pushed the door open, "Only way to find out is to go forward." Dusk stepped through the doorway and at the other end of the room stood Aura.

"Well it looks like you got past Yami."

"Night and Dawn said they could handle him without my help, that and they knew I wanted to talk to you alone."

"Talk? We're not here to talk, I'm here to kill you."

"So there's nothing I can say to change your mind?"

"No."

"Very well then" Dusk slowly raised his arm and morphed his buster he aimed it right at Aura, "let's do it."


	22. To Defeat Darkness

Here we go with the main attraction, look forward to some good battles. 

_Chapter 22_

_To Defeat Darkness…_

The small amount of light that was entering the room was not enough to completely illuminate it. The light streaks looked as though they were bars stretching across the room. Even with this small amount of light Yami remained hidden from Night and Dawn.

"Well this is getting us nowhere." Dawn said as she stood back to back with her brother.

"I know his attack is becoming more and more intense, we won't be able to keep dodging him forever. We need to split up divide his attention between the two of us."

"Knew you would come up with something, how about I go left you go right."

"Alright break."

And the two dashed away heading in opposite directions. As they moved the energy waves continued to slash at them and they dodged and jumped them as best they could. "You two won't last forever and separating yourselves won't help either." Yami's voice echoed as if he was a spirit. Night began to fire off shots from his buster again, but he was not aiming at anywhere in particular. Instead he was aiming at the walls to create more holes.

"You know Yami I've been trying to understand your abilities, how you and your brother were able to move from one spot to another so fast. And then it hit when I watched your brother die."

"YOU DO NOT SPEAK OF MY BROTHER!!" Yami bellowed and from one of the rays of light Dawn was able to see part of him but only for a brief second.

"Oniichan keep it up he's starting to become careless." Dawn said over the transmitter in her helmet.

"Now now Yami there's no reason to yell, after all Hikari's death was very enlightening."

"You son of a bitch!" And from the darkness Yami took on a physical shape and charged at Night in anger.

"Dawn take the shot." Night yelled at his sister and at the same moment Dawn let loose a semi-charged shot right at Yami.

"Did you really think you could hit me with that?" Yami held up a hand right at the oncoming blast, "Light shield." A shield of light formed around his hand and the blast was negated.

"How?"

"My brother who you mocked gave his power to me and with that power I now am both light and darkness. This fusion of power cannot be defeated by the likes of you."

"You should really think before you talk idiot. I've already figured out that you two could break down into light particles and that you break down into a specific particle that can repel like, hence the darkness element. However with your all so powerful combination now you have to regulate between the two, one primary and another secondary, right?"

Yami said nothing as he faded back into the darkness, "You think you can understand anything now? I will kill the both of you!" The wave attack was now faster and in greater numbers than before. Night and Dawn could no longer dodge all of them some of the waves hit and felt like blades going through their bodies.

"What do we do now Night?"

"Aim for the walls and blast some holes."

"What will that "

"Just do it hurry!" At Night's urging the two began shooting at the walls and through the holes light began to shine through. With the new light beams shooting through the room the darkness Yami was hiding in was becoming greatly decreased. With the darkness dwindling Yami's ability to hide was lessening and he was becoming visible all the more. With a target to attack the siblings let loose buster shots. The grunts of pain coming from the darkness were signs that Night's plan was working.

"Ugh it looks like I've underestimated you two, that changes now." As Yami finished speaking a surge of energy burst from him and he rose and began to walk toward Dawn and Night. As expected he disappeared when he walked into the darkness yet now when he walked into the light he vanished again.

"How the hell?" Night gasped as Yami now completely vanished from sight. Somehow he had become able to disappear into light itself. Night steadied his beam staff and slashed at the air hoping to hit Yami. From nowhere Night was hit in the back of the head. "That's impossible he can't hit me unless he turns solid again, unless."

"Guessed what I am yet merc?"

"How did you do it, how did you become solid light?"

"I've given up my life for this power. Merging with Hikari has overloaded my matrix, as it stands now I will surely die after this battle. However I can not die until I avenge my little brother."

"He's willing to give up everything just to get revenge, given different circumstances he would have been a great opponent." Night thought to himself, "But now he is nothing more than a reploid possessed. I have to finish him now."

"Lunaris!" Night called for his canine support unit and merged as soon as he arrived. Once merged he drew his staff and switched it to it's four point form. "Even if you can hide in plain sight, you forgot one fatal flaw."

"What's that?"

"You're not light particles anymore, you're solid light which means I can hit you." Night said as he held up his four point staff ready to give it a through. "Lunar Cross!" Night threw the staff and it flew in the air moving in all directions. "Don't think just because your invisible that you can escape my attack, my cross will keep moving until it hits its target." The cross zigged and zagged as it moved across the room and finally made contact with it's target. Yami screamed in pain as the cross cut across him in an X pattern. He fell to his knees writhing in pain as synthetic blood freely flowed from his wounds.

"You may have wounded me, but I can still finish you off." Yami was about to speak again when the sound of someone behind him caught his attention.

"Sorry about this." Dawn said as she brought her tonfa down on Yami's head. Yami fell to the ground his leg twitching. "Can we move on now?" Dawn asked. Night moved toward Yami's body and covered it with the cloak lying on the ground.

"Now we can move on, Dusk should be ready to move on as well." The two of them made their way to the door and began to climb the stairs to the next level.

"I just hope Dusk is all right to move on." Dawn said as they walked.

On the next level Dusk was down on his knees, blood covering his body and tears flowing down his face. His battle was over.


	23. Lovers' Fight

Wow what a cliffie that was and the wait was probably killing ya well don't worry cause her it is Dusk and Aura's fight, enjoy and leave me some reviews damnit. 

_Chapter 23_

_Lovers' Fight_

Dusk stood with his buster pointed at Aura, the hum from the charge the only noise the room. Neither spoke for what felt like an eternity, all they had to do was look into each other's eyes to know what the other was thinking. Dusk didn't have to say it but Aura could see it in his eyes, the one phrase he wanted to say but couldn't, "I'm sorry."

Aura broke the silence first, "Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this moment?"

"100 years, 20 days, 7 hours, and 8 minutes to the day. I've kept track of how long it's been since that day, there's no way that I could forget the day that friends and family died in front of me." Dusk said with a somber face, never once did his buster move despite the sudden conversation. "Do we really have to do this, is vengeance the only thing that can move you now?"

"No vengeance is not the only thing," Aura said as she raised her arm, "the satisfaction I'll feel once you're dead is something I've been looking forward to since the day you left me to die!" Aura threw her fist forward, Dusk fired off his shot and jumped out of the way knowing that the invisible demon's own fist was coming at him.

"Almost forgot about that thing, guess it's time to make this fight one on one." Dusk lowered his visor and activated the filter program. The image in his visor sweeping through the different frequencies until it stopped and he could see the demon as clearly as possible. From where he stood Dusk drew his beam saber and held it in front of him, his focus shifting from Aura to the demon. Again Aura threw her fist forward and the demon's giant fist shot towards Dusk. Unlike the last shot Dusk stood his ground, unwavering as the fist grew closer to him. At the moment before it looked like the fist would hit Dusk raised his blade and slashed down in front of him with great force, slicing the fist in half. Aura stood dumb-struck at the act, "How were you able to do that?"

"I'm the one who should be asking the questions. Where the hell did you get a demon from?" Dusk yelled pointing a finger at Aura. Aura's face turned red with anger, "Don't yell at me like that, I don't have to tell you anything."

"Oh is that so well, I guess I'll just have to take your toy away from you then." Dusk said as he began to charge the demon. As he approached he drew his second beam saber and leapt at the demon. He slashed at the demon's eye leaving an X shaped cut. "Demons are easy to kill if you just take out their control node."

Dusk landed from his attack arms crossed, his blades humming and he had a confident look on his face. That feeling of confidence was soon dashed by the confusion replacing it. That confusion was stemming from the laughter coming from Aura.

"What's so funny that you can laugh after losing your edge?"

"The fact that you didn't take into account that I knew about the person who first created these androids. I know it was your grandfather and I knew that you could easily destroy one of his demons by going for the eye control node."

"Yeah so what's your point the control node can only be the eye because it sends the impulses for the body to move based on visual stimuli."

"That's entirely correct, but what if the control node was more sophisticated and could exist outside the body?"

"Then that wouldn't work unless the node was a…" Dusk stopped what he was saying, the sheer fact that he didn't comprehend the obvious signs hit him hard.

"Unless the node was a what Dusk?" Aura said tauntingly.

"Unless the node was a reploid with a direct mind link to the demon mass."

Aura began to laugh again, "Very good Dusk, I can tell that all those years of deductive training really wasn't wasted."

By the time they were finished talking the demon had reformed itself and punched Dusk across the room. Crashing into the wall, rubble falling and covering Dusk, Aura's laughter continued to fill the room. Dusk exploded from the rubble and rushed the demon slashing at it horizontally at the head and feet. Dusk looked back and the demon was already pulling itself back together.

"Damn it this is just a waste of time. I'm going to have to force Aura into a corner, but the demon will just get in my way." Dusk thought as he continued to fight off Aura's pet. "Wait the demon will just get in my way, that's it!"

Dusk ran around the demon until Aura was just opposite him, then Dusk made his move. Once again Dusk charged at the demon cutting his way through, once he was on the other side he charged at Aura putting all his speed into his dash to beat the demon to Aura before it reformed. Dusk didn't have to worry though he was faster than the demon, he was on Aura in no time and brought his blade across in a horizontal slash, but Aura was able to jump back and dodge the attack. However with the momentum from the first slash Dusk brought his second blade around with even greater force, this time the blade cut Aura right across the chest. The wound wasn't deep but Aura was furious that an attack landed.

"Not so tough without your demon are you?" Dusk taunted, which infuriated Aura all the more.

"You think you're going to win just because of a little cut. Now it's time to get serious!!" After Aura finished talking her eyes began to glow and the demon mass began to glow in correspondence. Through his visor Dusk could see that the demon mass was losing its transparency and changing color to match Aura's armor.

"Uh oh." Dusk let out as he watched the mass slither its way to Aura and began to engulf her body. "It would figure since she's the control node that she could merge with the demon mass." Dusk thought as the mass began to take on a humanoid shape. Instead of its usual blob shape this one was sharper, sleeker and more than anything else, "Pointy." Dusk thought as the finished demon stepped forward. Aura's armor was still the same color but now every tip of her armor had sharp points on them, her fingers, shoulders, feet, even the top of her helmet was V shaped with points at the end.

"Now the fun begins." Aura said.

"You've got to be kidding me." Dusk said trying to keep a straight face, "You think you're going to scare me off with threats and that get up." Dusk started to laugh, pointing at Aura. Aura clenched her fists and her face wore an enraged expression, "You think I'm funny do you, well let's see how funny it is when I run you through!" Aura dashed at Dusk her fingers merging together to form a blade.

"Oh come on this is Crimson's fight all over again." Dusk said as he side stepped Aura's thrust and slashed at her extended arm and cut it off. "Now seriously how are you going to beat me like…" Aura's arm was growing back and the part Dusk cut off was moving back toward her. Dusk gave a skeptic look, "that. I hate powers like these."

"But that's not all I can do." Aura's arms again changed shape forming double barrel energy cannons.

"Great this will end well." Dusk sarcastically commented as he took off running. He holstered one of his sabers and morphed his buster, firing of shots as he ran. Even though his shots were making contact they weren't causing any damage. Aura however was letting loose with massive energy bolts, aiming to hit Dusk. Dusk jumped, ducked and slid to dodge the shots coming at him; however the shots were close he could feel the singeing heat from the blasts around him. Tired of running Dusk changed direction and began running right at Aura. Dodging the blasts seemed almost impossible, but he managed to dodge some of the blasts. The ones that hit him left scorch marks on his armor, but about halfway across the room Dusk threw his beam saber right at Aura. Aura didn't even bother changing her arms back she simply knocked it away with a blaster.

"Thought that would cause me to drop a blaster huh?" Aura said turning back to face Dusk. "No." Aura reared around and Dusk was standing with his busters point blank at her, "I thought it would distract you for the second I needed." Dusk said as he let loose his fully charged blast, the light emanating from it blinding his vision, "Should have left my visor down." Dusk said as he shielded his eyes from the blast.

"Yeah you should have!" A blade shot through the smoke from the blast and pierced Dusk's lower abdomen. As the blade withdrew Dusk clutched his wound, "It's not that bad, but a little closer to the right and she would have done some serious damage." Dusk thought as he drew his last beam saber. When the smoke cleared Aura stood undamaged, except for the demon mass recon verging over her body.

"None of your tricks will work this time Dusk." Aura grabbed his arm and heaved him off to the side. He smashed into the wall again and this time his armor cracked on impact. Aura began to laugh again and slowly made her way to Dusk, "Poor, poor Dusk, the best in his field because of his abstract thinking. Well I hate to tell you _love_, but I know all your tricks and I can counter them with ease." Aura stood over Dusk, who was slumped on the ground his head lying low on his chest. "The great warrior of the setting sun is nothing," Aura morphed her arm into a blade and held it high "but a weakling before me." She brought the blade down ready to cleave Dusk in two, but the blade stopped before it could ever come close to its act.

Dusk had caught the blade, yet he remained in the same slumped position. "Those that demean the name of the sun and moon can expect no mercy from me." Dusk's arm began to hum, like his buster was charging up. "You think I'm weak because I've yet to land a crucial hit." Dusk's head shot up and he flung Aura's blade aside. From his sitting position Dusk leaned back, jumped up and turned toward Aura; who stood steadying her blade in her other hand. The humming noise was becoming louder and Dusk wore a painful expression on his face. "Allow me to show you the furious power of the sun." Dusk took off moving toward Aura. The humming was now a high pitched noise coming from Dusk's right arm.

"Whatever you have planned it won't work!" Aura said as she shot her blade forward. Dusk knocked Aura's elongated blade arm out of his way and leapt into the air bringing his right hand up in a fist. "Take this, Initial Solar Burst: Flare!!" Dusk's fist erupted with searing heat and he brought it down at Aura. He felt his punch connect, but it didn't feel right. Looking down at the spot where his fist was hitting he saw that Aura was reforming and moving the demon mass on her body around so that her body was not bearing any of the damage. Feeling the energy subsiding from his fist Dusk kicked off Aura and back-flipped away from her.

"Well that was quite the trick. Too bad it didn't work." Aura tried to sound like she was fine, but in fact when Dusk first made contact he managed to get through the demon mass to actually hit Aura's real body. Even though it was only for a moment Dusk had inflicted the damage he sought, he wanted to show Aura that she wasn't untouchable. "What's wrong you look a little winded doll? I thought my attack didn't work?" Dusk said as he flexed his fist by opening and closing it.

"It didn't!" Aura yelled even though she was short winded, "Besides now that I know what to expect it won't work again."

"I entirely agree with you it won't." Dusk said, but again his arm began to emit the same humming as before. Aura gave a puzzled look, "If it won't work then why bother trying again?"

"Because I'm not a one trick pony." The humming had reached the same pitch as before when Dusk last charged Aura and again he took off charging right at her. "You idiot you think that will work again." Aura formed thick blocks on her arms and prepared to guard against Dusk's attack. "Once he comes down at me I'll block and then crush him between my hands." Aura thought as Dusk again leapt into the air and his fist erupted with heat. As he came down she brought the huge shields she made up, but before Dusk hit he smirked, "Secondary Solar Burst: Corona!!" As Dusk finished talking the thrusters on his boots ignited and he shot down with even greater force. Aura couldn't believe his speed, "If he comes down like that…" Aura hastily thought, but it was too late Dusk had connected with her shields and had broken through. As he was coming through Aura could see the smirk on Dusk's face, "He knows I can't guard myself like this, he's going to…" but Aura's thoughts were blocked out as her body acted on instinct and leapt back with Dusk's punch. The demon mass remaining on her body converged, as much as it could, onto the spot where Dusk's fist connected. Aura flew back; she was almost a blur as she flew into the wall. Dusk Landed on the ground and leaned over and clutched his right hand, "Damn that hurts, she better be down cause I don't know how much more I can," Dusk looked over and saw Aura slowly getting up "ugh she never did know when to stay down." Dusk began to walk over to Aura; he still clutched his right hand which was searing with pain. "I can only throw one more punch at that strength, hope that will be enough." Dusk thought as he stopped walking and saw Aura back on her feet. Aura was holding her side, apparently she got off some type of guard and the demon mass covering her body was slowly working its way back to form the armor covering. "I must have landed my attack close to her control node; it looks like she's having a hard time controlling the mass."

Aura was panting; she could feel the sluggish reaction between her commands and the mass' movements. "Dammitt he hit my control regulator, he has to have noticed. His next attack will likely be aimed at it." Anticipating his attack Aura clasped her hands together and began to mold her weapons.

"Looks like she's not waiting for me to make my move," Dusk thought, "in that case." Again Dusk began to charge energy into his hand, this time he lowered his visor and had his mask slide into place. "This is going to decide everything." Dusk shouted. "I agree." Aura shouted back as her arms began to take the shape of a cannon. Dusk's hand was smoking, any fluids in his hand were now evaporating and he was screaming because of the pain. The energy he was gathering was already passed the amount he had stored before, he felt that his hand was about to explode. Aura's cannon were now beginning to charge, streams of light began to emanate from it. Dusk took off charging at Aura, the hum and glow from his hand the only discernable thing Aura could focus on. For a final time Dusk leapt into the air and came down at Aura. As Dusk came down Aura trained her cannon on Dusk and let her blast loose. The beam shot toward Dusk who opened his hand and brought it to the beam, "Final Solar Burst: Super Nova!!" Dusk's boot thrusters kicked in and he shot towards the beam. He held the beam in the palm of his hand and fought against its flow, forcing it back toward Aura. Aura couldn't move with the force of the cannon keeping her in place, but she saw Dusk come closer and closer, his hand glowing as bright as the sun. Finally Dusk forced the beam back into the cannon and forced his way through it to Aura, tearing through the cannon and her arms Dusk punched through into Aura's abdomen and grabbed her control regulator. They were standing face to face, Aura looking at her own reflection in Dusk's visor. Dusk removed his visor and mask so that he could look at her, as he had his hand grasped around her regulator he said only one thing, "I'm sorry."

Aura closed her eyes and she waited for the end, but it didn't come. The searing pain she felt from Dusk's hand began to subside slightly as the heat died away. She opened her eyes to see Dusk falling forward. He fell on her, his body resting on hers.

"Why, why didn't you do it?" Aura asked as Dusk pulled his hand out of the wound he caused. His head rested on her shoulders, his hand was smoking and charred black and he began to speak between gasps of breath. "Could never kill you, could never kill the person I love."

Aura's face scrunched up in anger, she grabbed Dusk and began to shake him. "Who the hell are you to say that?!" Aura yelled. "You left me alone to go and fight; you told me that everything would be alright, but" Dusk looked at her face and saw the tears streaming down her face, "but everything wasn't alright. The army came and destroyed everything and killed" The tears were coming down faster now.

"They killed everyone and they almost killed me." Dusk said. Aura stopped shaking him and looked at him. "I got word that the town was going to come under attack and rushed off to stop the army. I managed to get ahead of them but" Dusk closed his eyes and the images of the past assaulted him. Dusk opened his eyes and continued "but I couldn't stop them. By the time I got to town it was burning and everything was destroyed. Bodies were lying all over and those that weren't killed were taken prisoner. I took off after the soldiers and slaughtered them all in rage. When the last of them was dead I stood there covered in blood looking down at my hands. I fell to my knees and cried for everything that had just happened." Now tears were falling down Dusk's eyes. "I thought you were dead, if I had known you were still alive I would have never stopped searching till I found you." Aura dropped to his knees and Dusk knelt down in front of her. "He lied to me." Aura said. "Who, who lied to you?" Dusk asked. "Sageus, he told me you never came to the town that you were on the other side of the world. He showed me."

Aura began to cry, all that she believed and held onto was breaking apart. "Aura, listen I would have never abandoned you, if I could have I would have given my own life just so that you could live." Dusk put his left hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, into his eyes and saw the sincerity in what he was saying. She knew that everything Dusk had said was true and the hatred she had held onto for all those years began to fade. She broke down and fell forward into Dusk, wrapping her arms around him. As Aura cried into his chest Dusk put his good arm around her and held her as she cried. "It's alright, there's nothing to be sad about." Dusk continued to console her, "Everything's going to be fine now."

"Ah, but that is where you are wrong." A voice came from the doorway going up to the next level. The door opened and there stood two reploids, Aura stopped crying and clenched her fist, "You, everything is your fault." The reploid in the cloak stepped forward into the room. "Poor little Battle Aura, you blame me for everything now?" Aura slowly stood up, Dusk right behind her, "You used me Sageus, twisting me with your lies to serve you." Sageus began to laugh. "You little fool, of course I used you. My powers of persuasion could twist the strongest of wills; you were just a play thing to keep around long enough till I was tired of you." Aura was about to leap at Sageus, but Dusk stepped in front of her, "Are you the boss?" Sageus stopped laughing and looked at Dusk, "Ah, the mercenary, the fabled warrior of the setting sun and hero of the Great War, yes I am the leader here, you may call me Sageus."

"Well it seems you've done your homework, however I'm only going to give you one warning. Return the anti-viral buster now and maybe I'll only beat you to within an inch of your life." Sageus began to laugh again, "Foolish child your pathetic attempts to threaten me are futile. I am already one with what you seek." Sageus raised his arm from his cloak to reveal the buster on his arm, "And it has been formatted with my virus along with that of my master's."

"I thought you were the boss?" Dusk asked. "I am for my master is dead, but his will lives on in me. The Black Death Virus is now reborn into this world." Sageus flung open his cloak and laughed maniacally. Both Dusk and Aura stood in disbelief, "You're lying all remnants of the Black Death has been destroyed."

"Oh child that's not the truth, for you see I am one of the generals of the Black Death Army and I will rebuild our glorious empire." Aura took off and charged at Sageus. "Not as long as I live you monster!" Sageus reached into his cloak and then, as if by magic, had Aura impaled on his sword. "AURA!!!" Dusk yelled as he ran to her. "If you want her so much you can have her." Sageus said as he threw Aura from his blade, this sent her flying with drops of her blood. Dusk ran and caught while she was in the air, the blood hitting his body. As he landed he turned toward Sageus as he was walking back through the door, "If you can manage getting past Meteor here I'll be waiting for you on the top floor," Sageus turned his head so that Dusk could see his glowing red eye, "Harbinger of Twilight." With that the doors closed and Dusk was left alone with Aura in his arms. He fell to his knees and held Aura close, "What am I going to do now?"


	24. Hidden Darkness and Growing Worry

Some lite exposition today along with a little look into our intrepid hero's past, not much but it will make you think. Please review, any comments are welcome._  
_

_Chapter 24_

_Hidden Darkness and Growing Worry_

The sight of their brother drenched in blood and holding his former lover close was unbelievable to Night and Dawn. Dusk looked over to them almost lost and said nothing. The two of them rushed over to their brother and quickly laid Aura on the ground and began to apply some first aid. "Dawn how much energy do we have left in the sub tanks?" Night asked. "Not much onii-chan, if we want to be sure that we can make it to the top level fully charged then I don't see how we can spare any to heal her." Dusk quickly grabbed his sister's arm and pulled her down to him. "You listen to me Dawn we are going to help her. I don't care if we get to the top floor and we're ready to collapse she is going to live through this." Night grabbed Dusk and broke his hold on Dawn.

"You idiot do you really think that we would leave her behind and just continue on our way? Of course we're going to help her and you, now shut up get out of the way and let us figure out how to help her." Dusk looked away from his brother, he knew they were going to help her but he was just lost after finally having Aura back in his life he's now so close to having her gone. "If only there was something we could use... wait." Dusk called for Eclipse to come over and he took the experimental injection on nanotech from his med pack. "If this works on me it should help her." Dusk held the injection at his neck and looked over to the others working on Aura. "Please let this work." Dusk injected himself with the nanotech and collapsed dropping the injector. The others heard the sound of the injector dropping and saw that Dusk and passed out. "That idiot." Night said as he rushed over to his brother. "He always has to do things the most extreme way possible doesn't he?" Now Night had to work on Dusk as Dawn continued with Aura both of them hopeful that they could do something for their fallen friends.

Darkness filled Dusk's vision as he floated in a void of nothingness. Dusk slowly looked around feeling disoriented. "Where am I?" He said as he continued to float. Suddenly his memory came back to him, "That's right where is everyone else?" Panicking the worst consequence comes to him, "Am I dead?" As if to answer his question a bright light pierces the darkness and creates a small path. As the path was being created Dusk began to descend toward it. "What's happening to me?"

"Do you still ask so many questions?" A voice echoed around Dusk. He searched for where the voice came from and he scanned down the path and saw two figures at the end. Dusk motioned to point his buster at the two figures but he finds that he is now without his armor; instead he was wearing his old training suit. A light weight armor that appears to be nothing more than cloth, it was completely black except for a dark red belt around his waist.

"What the hell happened to my armor and why am I wearing this?"

"Still with the questions, when will you learn to take in your surroundings to find the answer?" The two figures began to walk toward Dusk and a second voice began to speak. I don't think there's much to go on to figure out what's happening." Dusk stood pensively looking down the path.

"Stop talking like you know me! All of this is just a hallucination!"

"Well you're half right kiddo." Dusk burst out again, "And stop talking like that you're not them!" The two figures were then visible and Dusk fell to his knees, "You can't be them."

The two people stood in front of Dusk, one was a man who appeared to be in his 40s or 50s, his hair was gray and thinning yet he had a goatee that had remnants of black streaks around the outter edges. He wore a white lab coat and black pants, on his face he wore glasses that were sitting slanted on his face. The other figure was a woman with long orange hair and she wore a violet training suit. The woman bent down and lifted Dusk's face up so he was staring her in the face.

"There's little time to tell you our message so listen up and stop whining." The woman talked just as Dusk remembered. He straightened up and listened to what the specters of his past had to say. "What you must do now is remember the past. It is from there that you will find your true strength."

"How can my true strength come from that, the past is where I was my weakest. That was when I…" The woman put her hand on Dusk's shoulder shaking her head, "What you should focus on is exactly those horrible events because it was there that you took control of the darkness within you. Once you overcame that you gained a great power which you will need soon." The woman rose and rejoined the man, then the two began to walk back along the path of light. "Wait don't go!" Dusk yelled after them. "I have to tell you I'm sorr…" The two turned around and smiled at him. "There's no reason for you to apologize. It wasn't you that did it." The man said.

Dusk got back on his feet, "But…" The man cut him off again, "Stop torturing yourself and live idiot son." Dusk's eyes began to well up with tears, "Father, Day-neesan!" His cry echoed around him and the path of light and Dusk's dead family members faded away leaving him in darkness yet again.

Again Dusk floated in the darkness, wiping the tears from his eyes a determined look came over his eyes. "I don't know what I can gain from this darkness, but I will finish this fight. Definitely!" He clenched his fist and the path of light shot at him. The light began to pull him away from the darkness. As he drew closer to the light his shadow stood behind him, arms folded and grinning as it watched Dusk leave his domain. The shadow's eyes glowed red, "I did what they asked bringing you here. You would do well to heed your father and sister's words. For when the time comes I'll get my chance to play in the real world again." The shadow finished talking to itself and backed away, vanishing into the darkness.

Dusk awoke slowly and saw Night over him checking him with a scanner. "Hey niisan what did I miss?" Night looked at his younger brother relieved. "Not much you idiot." Dusk sat up scratching his head. As he did he noticed he was using his right hand. "Hey my hand's fixed." He then looked over the rest of himself and then checked his internal systems. "I'm at 100, the nanotech worked. Quick give the other injection to…" Night cut him off with a raised hand, "Slow down little brother, once you took the shot you were fixed up almost instantly. Once we saw that we gave the other shot to Aura and she's healing nicely." Dusk looked over to where Aura was and saw Dawn and Solaris with her. "But you know you gave us quite a scare when you collapsed." Dusk looked back at Night, "It looks like the nanites cause you to reboot when they finish with the software. Not very practical in the field when your left vulnerable for that time."

"Was that what caused that vision, just a reboot of my system?" Dusk thought as he stood up. Night tossed him his helmet; apparently Night took it off him while he was unconscious. Dusk put it back on and felt it connect with his armor. Eclipse came up and stood next to him, he patted Eclipse on the head and apologized for worrying him. He walked over to Dawn and looked down at Aura lying motionless on the floor. Her wounds were gone and apparently she was going through a system reboot like Dusk had just done. "How long has she been under?"

"A few minutes so she should be waking up soon if we go by your reaction." Dawn said looking up at Dusk. "Good then before she wakes up we need to get ready for the next fight and go over some important details." Dusk told the others about his encounter with Sageus and everything he had told Dusk.

"Well this changes the mission entirely. If the buster is integrated with Sageus then recovering it is impossible. Plus now we're dealing with one of Black Death's generals and only a handful of people have ever beaten them." Night said.

"So it won't be a problem since I'm one of those people." Dusk stated.

"True but you also weren't exactly yourself at the time. Also we'll all be weakened after fighting Meteor so it would be practically impossible for you to win."

"I'll use the Twilight System." Night and Dawn looked at him shocked. "You can't use it and it's the only way to stop Sageus. Don't worry I know I'll be fine." Dawn started toward her brother, "But…" Night grabbed her shoulder stopping her protests. "We'll deal with this when we get to it not I think it's time we attend to Aura and move on." Dusk agreed and went over to Aura; Dawn was still concerned and looked back to Night. He merely smiled and walked back over to Aura saying, "Don't worry."

"Even though you say it I'll still worry." Dawn muttered to herself as she walked over to the others. Aura was still unconscious as here system was being repaired, Dusk stood over her looking at her lying on the floor. He bent down and brushed the hair covering her eyes, smiled and then rose and turned away. "Come on we still have a job to finish."

"What about Aura?" Dawn asked.

"I don't want to see her get hurt again." The siblings made their way through the door leading to the stairs up to the next level. As they climbed the stairs not one of them spoke, each had their own worries. Dusk worried about the dream he had, Dawn worried whether her brighter would go through with his plan and Night worried that Dusk would awaken the thing within him again. Doubts and worries weighed the three mercenaries down yet when they reached the door to the next level they caste off those weights and stepped through into their next fight.


	25. Meteor Strike

Updates are going to get a little sporadic, after all I want to end the story the way I've been planning for a while now. Enjoy and let me know what you think. 

_Chapter 25_

_Meteor Strike_

The room was medieval, lit by torches. Stone floors, pillars, and horrifying depictions of fallen warriors on murals decorated the room. In the center of the room stood Meteor, the shadows created by the flames danced across his rocky armor. His eyes had the same red glow as his master, a sign he had been infected with the virus. The three siblings walked forward from the doorway up to the solemn warrior. The presence around Meteor teemed and brimmed with bloodlust, he turned to face them and they sprang into action. Quickly each drew their weapons and slashed Meteor in different places. When they had moved past him they turned their heads to see the damage.

"Not even a word before you try to cut me down." Meteor spoke as he brushed himself off, acting like he wasn't even attacked at all.

"Damnit I was hoping that file on him was wrong." Night said in disgust, turning around and bringing his staff up into a fighting position.

"So his file was right about his armor, it's not a big deal." Dusk said as he and Dawn turned and readied their weapons.

"Yeah nii-chan that jus t means we have to find a way around it." Dawn smiled up at Night. He sighed and lowered his staff, "You're right so how about you two help me out finding that way." Night's visor came out of the sides of his helmet and covered his eyes. "You two go at it and I'll collect as much data as I can." Night ordered and Dusk and Dawn nodded in agreement and charged at Meteor.

"Weaklings should learn their place." Meteor said as he stood still taking the attacks again. As the two passed him he quickly turned and threw a punch at Dawn. Dusk saw the attack coming and quickly used an air dash to change his momentum and push Dawn out of the way. Although they dodged the attack the sheer force of the punch caused the wall to shatter.

"If I took that head on I would've been done." Dawn thought as she and Dusk separated and came to Meteor in different directions. Dawn fired off shots from her buster and Dusk used that time to follow up with another slash from his beam saber. The smoke from Dawn's shots hid Meteor from sight, the two siblings stood at the ready to react to any attack. However when the smoke cleared Meteor stood firm in the exact spot where he was attacked.

"Bastard!!" Dusk yelled as he fired off a fully charged shot at Meteor. Again Meteor did not move and allowed the blast to hit him. Instead of waiting for the smoke to clear like last time Dusk and Dawn charged Meteor and impaled him with their beam weapons. Dusk had both of his sabers in Meteors shoulders and Dawn had the tips of her tonfas in Meteor's abdomen.

"Are you finished yet because I am getting bored?" Meteor said as he stood there as if the weapons weren't even piercing him.

"What kind of monster is this guy?" Dusk thought as he looked on in disbelief. Meteor withdrew the weapons from his body and tossed them aside. "If that's all you can do then it's time I finished this." As soon as the words left hi lips Meteor moved so fast that Dusk and Dawn had no time to react. Meteor punched Dusk in the gut and sent him crashing into the wall. He grabbed dawn by the throat and pinned her up against a pillar. "Now I'll make you scream." Meteor whispered to Dawn as she struggled in his grip. He began to squeeze harder and Dawn let out a small cry.

In the next instant Dusk punched Meteor in the face and Night kicked him in the chest. The combined attack managed to free Dawn from Meteor's grip. "Anyone that makes my little sister cry gets their ass kicked!" Night and Dusk said at the same time. "Do you have a plan yet Nii-san?"

"Yeah I know how his armor works now, get us some cover and I'll fill you two in " Dusk nodded his head an d fired off shots around Meteor causing smoke and debris to hide them form sight. Night began to tell his siblings on his analysis of Meteor. "Even though he didn't do anything I was able to figure out what his source of power is."

"Well tell us already." Dawn said impatiently.

"His power comes from our attacks. Every time he was hit by our weapons he absorbed the energy through his meteor rock armor and transformed it into his own energy. I could tell how much energy he converted and stored by a thermal reading I took of him. Every time he was hit the thermal reading increased and when he reached a high temperature he launched his attack against you two."

"Wow that's fascinating but I still don't see how any of this helps." Dusk said.

"If we hit him with enough energy and cause his armor to absorb more than it can handle then it might overload. So without his armor he shouldn't be much of a threat, but we would have to make sure he doesn't expend any of the energy."

"So basically keep hitting him until he explodes right?"

"Yes Dawn in the simplest of explanations." Dusk mocked his little sister. The two began to bicker forgetting their situation. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything too important."

"Yeah you are!" The two yelled and saw that Meteor was standing over them. "Crap." Dusk muttered as Meteor struck the ground where the three had gathered. The shockwave force of the attack caused the ground to ripple. Moving quickly each of the mercenaries scattered and activated their visors to monitor thermal readings. With a quick glance Dusk saw that Meteor was reading 200 F.

"It's amazing that he can get that hot without putting out any felling of heat around him." Dusk thought as he began to test how quickly Meteor would be able to use up his energy. No longer just taking the attacks Meteor began to go on a counter offensive. He still did not avoid the attacks aimed at him but instead threw himself at his enemies and tried to land critical blows. Apparently when he sped up or attacked Meteor's thermal reading would drop quickly. The attacks that the three were hitting Meteor with weren't casing enough build up in his thermal reading.

Night moved to his brother to see what he thought. "We're not doing to well are we?" Dusk yelled over the sounds of the fight. "We need to hit him with more, he probably can't handle anything over 500 F." Night yelled back.

"Oh well that should be easy, especially since we haven't gotten him past 250 F yet." Meteor threw a punch at the two causing a shockwave of pressure that knocked them off their feet. "Aren't I enough for you big boy?" Dawn yelled as she leapt at Meteor and put her buster right in his face. Dawn let loose with a fully charged blast grinning as the blast engulfed Meteor's upper body. However as the blast subsided Meteor's hand grabbed Dawn by the leg. "Little girls should stay out of the way." Meteor spoke as he threw Dawn across the room. She crashed into the wall and was embedded there. "That hurt a little." Dawn pushed herself out from the wall and fell onto the floor.

"Is this really all you can manage? I was expecting a challenge from you weaklings."

Night looked back at Meteor and noticed his thermal reading had shot up considerably. He was at 280 F, almost a 90 degree increase from before Dawn's attack. "Getting hit with that much energy that close is the answer." Night shook Dusk and told him his plan, they ran to Dawn and told her the plan. Each of them scattered and began to charge at Meteor from different directions. "What's this, resigned yourselves to your fate." Meteor jested as they began to speed up and start moving from one spot to another. 'Your speed is nothing to me, you might as well be standing still." As Meteor finished talking Dusk appeared right in front of him.

"Speed's just a diversion." Dusk said with his buster fully charged and pointing right into Meteor's stomach.

"Haven't you learned yet that your attacks are useless."

"Not if you get hit with more than one of these kinds of attacks at the same time." Dusk's statement was followed with Night and Dawn appearing behind Meteor on his right and left sides. Both had their own busters charged and aimed point blank on Meteor, who began to look worried. "What's wrong Meteor you look a little nervous." Dusk taunted. "Now!" Night yelled and the three of them fired their busters. The light from the blasts was blinding, even through their visors the mercenaries could barely see through the light.

The resulting explosion from the blast knocked them back, the area where Meteor stood was covered by smoke and rubble. Dusk slowly rose from the ground where he landed, scanning through the smoke. In the midst of the damage Dusk could see a thermal signature, the area was hot but one spot was reading at 500 F. "Did we manage to pull it off?" Dusk thought. His hopes were dashed as he saw the image move, it looked like it was facing him. "Damnit." He muttered. The image was now charging him and Dusk no longer had to use his thermal readings to see that Meteor was coming through the smoke. His eyes were glowing and he was yelling in fury, but Dusk noticed something about Meteor's armor. "It's cracked, if I push him a little more then maybe." Dusk took off toward Meteor, his right hand beginning to emit a humming sound. "Only one shat at this." He thought as he closed his mask and sped up at Meteor. Within seconds the two were face to face and in that split second when they met Meteor had thrown a punch at Dusk's head. With his quicker speed Dusk was able to duck under the attack, he clenched his fist and looked up at Meteor. "Solar Burst bypass." The humming grew louder and Dusk shot forward at Meteor at blinding speed. "Final Solar Burst! Super Nova!!"

Dusk's super heated fist connected with Meteor's chest. Meteor was taken back, he couldn't believe the force he was being hit with. With all his strength Dusk strained to force his fist through Meteor, but the armor was resilient holding the attack back as best it could. However it the armor couldn't last for long, already weakened the armor buckled and finally broke allowing Dusk to pierce through. Meteor screamed in pain and in his rage he managed to tear Dusk from himself and threw him to the side. He clutched at the wound in his chest, staggering around in disbelief that he was actually wounded.

"This is impossible, my armor could never be compromised." Meteor said in between gasps.

"Impossible is something my brother can pull off." Meteor turned around to the voice behind him and stood face to face with Night. A second was all it took as Night ignited his beam staff and shoved it into Meteor's wound and twisted it. The pain caused Meteor to fall to his knees he looked up at Night who was ready to hit him again, but the blow came from someone else. Meteor fell to the ground unconscious and Night looked over at Dawn who still had her fist clenched and a smile on her face. "I still owed him one." Night let out a small laugh and walked over to Dusk.

Dusk sat on the ground panting heavily, "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Dusk said as Night helped him up. "I guess that file was over exaggerating hi status."

"Well who cares lets just get up to the last floor and get this job done." The three began to walk to the closed door that led to the last floor but stopped when they heard laughing coming from behind them. The laughter couldn't be coming from Meteor they thought because as it rose in volume the three could hear that it was a woman laughing. Night, Dusk and Dawn turned around, buster at the ready. They looked over at Meteor's body and saw that it was beginning to crumble with something starting to rise from it. The figure broke out from Meteor's body and the laughter stopped. The figure brushed off the remnants of Meteor's armor and began to walk toward them.


	26. The Star in the Rock

Next chapter up and we're getting close to the end, so for a change how about leaving a review of what you think. 

_Chapter 26_

_The Star in the Rock_

Crumbling rock fell to the ground as the reploid previously known as Meteor continued to walk toward the three siblings.

"I must admit I never thought I would have to shed my armor. It's been years since I was encased in that space rock and now I am free to use my powers as **I** choose." The figure talking was a female reploid with sparkling black hair at shoulder length. Unlike the other reploids Night, Dusk and Dawn had faced this one did not wear armor designed for battle, the skin tight armor she wore was light grey and accentuated her toned body.

The three sibling stood in disbelief with there busters trained on the woman who seemingly appeared from Meteor's remains.

"Ok lady who are you and why do I get the feeling you're going to be pain in the ass." Dusk asked as the woman continued to stretch and flex as if she were waking up from a night's sleep. She looked over at them, at Dusk in particular and smiled devilishly.

"Sorry handsome but you have to understand that being a lady trapped in a man's body I need a moment to" she stretched her arms up in the air, "adjust."

"Trapped in a man's body?" Dawn questioned, "She was in that rock head Meteor!?"

"Aw the cutie got it right on the first guess." The woman said leaning over as she continued to stretch.

"Ok I am just creeped out thinking about the concept of that, but who cares." Dusk said and pointed his buster at the woman. "Do you plan on trying to stop us, because if you try you're going to be joining the rest of the rubble on the ground."

"Ooh the handsome one is trying to be threatening." The woman said and leapt into the air. Moving with amazing speed and grace she landed net to Dusk, put her arm across his chest and whispered in his ear, "But I don't scare so easily handsome."

Realizing what was happening Night trained his buster at the woman's head, "Kindly step away from my brother or get an extra hole in the head."

The woman moved away from Dusk and circled around to the front. "MY you boys are trigger happy aren't you?"

"You didn't answer his question." Night said with his buster still aimed at the woman's head.

"Well I am free of Sageus' control now so I can do whatever I want."

"Then if you have no interest here we'll be going now." Dawn said as she turned back to the door leading to the next floor.

"True I have not interest in helping Sageus at all"

"There see, nice meeting you but we have to be going." Dawn said walking toward the door.

"But it would be fun to fight you all from what I saw inside of rock head. So…" the woman swept her hand toward the door and the sound of something hitting the stone wall mad Dusk and Night look over. Dawn had stopped and touched her cheek, she had a small cut that had started to bleed.

"All right bitch has to go." Dawn said angrily and charged at the woman, tonfas drawn and ignited.

"Yea now for some real fun." The woman squealed in delight as Dawn swung from the left at her. The woman brought up her right arm and blocked Dawn's attack. Quickly the woman side stepped grabbed Dawn by the wrist and threw her to the ground.

"C'mon cutie you can do better that that can't you?" The woman was teasing Dawn. "Don't get me wrong I just want to enjoy myself to the fullest, so fight like your life depends on it." The woman closed her fist and what appeared to be needles shot up in between her fingers. "Because is does." The woman threw the needle like weapons at Dawn. Dawn rolled back to a hand stand and somersaulted back as the needles came at her.

"Those aren't solid needles, she's actually creating projectile beam weapons." Night analyzed as he began to lay down cover fire for his sister. Dusk apparently opted for a close combat approach and charged with his saber drawn. Seeing him coming the woman threw her beam needles at Dusk.

"Too easy." Dusk yelled as he slashed the needles away.

"Not bad, now this could be fun." The woman and Dusk began to exchange blows at a quick pace. Dusk's saber and the woman's needles clashed so fast that it appeared each was fighting with streaks of light. After the series of blows the two combatants jumped back from each other.

"Not bad jouchan." Dusk commented as he wiped the blood from a cut over his right eye.

"Thanks I try my best." The woman said accepting the compliment as she ran her hand over the cut she had on her left fore arm. She licked the blood from her fingers and winked at Dusk.

"Sorry but I'm kind of involved with some one right now, um do you still want to be called Meteor or do you have a name of your own?"

The woman put her hands behind her back and laughed. "No way would I want to use that rock head's name, after all I am an entirely different reploid." The woman curtsied and introduced herself. "Please to make your acquaintance my name is Star, en guarde."

Dusk tipped the hilt of his saber to his chin. "Name's Dusk and I need to end this quickly so," Dusk charged at Star, "en guarde."

As the two began to clash again Dawn stood with Night watching, "Even though he said he's in a hurry he still seems to be enjoying this fight."

"True but he know we don't have time to spare so…" Night pointed his buster at the two and whistled while letting loose a charged shot. Picking up the queue Dusk jumped up to dodged the blast as it hit star and exploded. "Sorry but like my little brother said we have to go."

That's alright." Came Star's voice. "I've enjoyed myself enough for today." The smoke from the blast had cleared and Star was no where to be seen. "Next time why don't you dance with me Night?"

"If we live through this it would be my pleasure." Night said as he turned toward the stairway door.

"Then I'll be seeing you soon handsome." And with that she was gone leaving the three mercenaries to their task.

"She was a real piece of work." Dusk said as he wiped the last of the running blood from above his eye.

"True but that's something to worry about another day, let's get going."

Dawn nudged Dusk in the side, "Is it just me or does Night seem happy at the thought of that?"

"Hey I was the one fighting her but Night seemed to really catch her eye somehow."

The two didn't notice that Night was clutching a pair of actual needles that Star had thrown at him while she was fighting Dusk. "Your right little brother I have no idea why she would have any interest in me." Night joked as they climbed the stairs to face Sageus.

_Throne Room_

Sageus sat in his room monitoring everything that had happened. "Damn that minx Star, I thought she would be infected inside of Meteor but now it seems not." Sageus turned from the screens. "Now all that remains in my path are three ignorant fools who will soon be enlightened." The former Black Death general began to laugh as the viral buster on his hand began to hum.


	27. Staggering Odds

Well it's been a while since I updated but I'm getting close to the end with only one more chapter to write. Of course I still have to type the others but that will get done soon. I've been going at the last two chapters really hard and if anyone actually is reading then I think you'll be happy with them. So here's 27 enjoy and please for the love of my ego review a little.

Oh yeah since it's been a while, I don't own Megaman X or any pertaining characters.

The others are mine though.

_Chapter 27_

_Staggering Odds_

The stair well seemed longer than the others, but that was just a feeling because of what waited at the other side of the door that stood at the top of the stairwell. The three mercenaries stood at the door positioning themselves to rush in. Night and Dawn covered the sides while Dusk knelt at the edge of the door's opening. Dusk held up his hand and started to countdown from three, when his last finger fell Night slammed open the door and Dusk rolled in quickly scanning the room. Except for the light from the doorway the room was completely dark. Dusk stood up and was joined by Night and Dawn, all three with their busters at the ready.

"How come the bad guys always seem to never pay their power bills?" Dawn questioned. "The dark room thing gets old real quick."

"My apologies for the predictable villain motif, but I do enjoy the classics." A voice boomed and the three aimed and fired in the voice's direction. The shots connected with a force field causing a brief shimmer of light which illuminated Sageus sitting on a throne sneering down at his enemies.

"As usual the young are too over zealous to understand proper etiquette of combat." As Sageus finished speaking the lights came on ad the room was finally visible. The room was spacious with no pillars like that other rooms, at the far end from the door a set of stairs led up to a throne on which Sageus sat in his armor. Sageus' armor was a dark green with black streaks seemingly flowing over it, instead of a helmet an officer's cap rested on his head.

"So the big boss is finally ready to get hiss beating. How about you come down here and we can finish this?" Dusk said as he began to walk toward Sageus.

"Now, now I put a great deal of work into this operation and would like to see the fruits of my labors in action" Sageus rose from his seat and draped a cape over his shoulders. "Let me pose you a question Dusk, do you believe that you can fight me on equal terms?"

Dusk stopped walking and looked up at the evil general. "I fought your kind during the war and there's no doubt that we can stop you here and now."

"So confident in you answer good good. Now another question," Sageus snapped his fingers and the floor between Dusk and the steps began to slide open. The sound of an elevator rising could be heard as Sageus finished speaking, "do you believe that you can still defeat me after having fought 100 of my black op hunters." Now standing between the siblings and Sageus were 100 reploids all in matching black armor, their eyes shining red showing that they were infected with Sageus's virus.

"Well now that is an excellent question, let me answer with this." Dusk immediately shot the closest hunter to him and ran back to Night and Dawn. Recognizing that the battle was on the hunters began to fire at their targets. "A little cover fire please!!"

Taking the queue Night and Dawn began to fire at the hunters, Dusk pointed his buster at the huge doors they came through and fired a few shots causing them to fall. Dawn stopped firing and positioned the doors across the doorway for cover while Night morphed his other buster and continued firing. Dusk ran past his brother, tapped him on the shoulder and both of them dove over the makeshift barricade.

"This isn't going as I planned." Dusk yelled over the sound of fire.

"A hundred versus three I say those are good odds" Dawn said sarcastically.

"Listen forget conserving power. We need to hit these poor bastards with everything we got." Night yelled whiled firing off a few rounds.

"You're right."

"No other choice, let's do it. Eclipse!"

"Solaris!"

"Lunaris!"

Three teleport beams shot down and a flash of light engulfed the spot where the three stood. The light caused the hunters to stop firing and in that second the counter attack began.

Micro-missiles began raining down on the hunters as a yellow streak moved through the air.

"Sorry boys no time to play around. A" Dawn continued to fire as the large group began to splinter off into smaller groups.

Screams could be heard for one of the splintered groups as an orange streak moved through the group the screaming hunters were falling over, parts o their armor melting.

"Solar Burst." Dusk stood behind the group his hands at his side glowing. "I'm a little disappointed; I thought this was supposed to be a challenge."

In another group Night's four point staff was cutting through his opponents. "Don't get cocky, just finish them off ASAP."

The three of them continued to throw themselves into the battle all the while Sageus sat on his throne watching with a devilish smile on his face.

"We're cutting his men to shreds right in front of him and he's smiling. Is he just trying to make us waste energy or is he planning something?" Night wondered in the midst of battle. As the number of viral hinters diminished Sageus rose from his seat and began to clap.

"Wonderful, you all live up to my expectations. Strategy, power, resilience it is no wonder you defeated my generals."

Dusk walked forward, dropping the last hunter who was still standing. His hands were smoking as his Solar Burst began to cancel leaving them to cool. He looked up at Sageus on his throne and drew his saber. Igniting the blade he raised and pointed it up at Sageus.

"You got your answer not it's time for the main event."

"Oh but I have one final question before that."

Dusk was about to charge at him until Sageus held up his arms and asked his question. "What happens when I do this?"

He held up his hands and what at first appeared to be a trick of the light soon became a deadly threat. The black streaks of his armor shot from his finger tips and flowed into the fallen hunters. As the last of the dark energy seeped into the hunters they began to rise, their wounds healed.

"Behold my loyal and undying viral army. As long as a part of them remains I can revive them endlessly."

Dusk pointed his buster at the hunter he had dropped a few seconds ago and let loose a charged blast. The hunter screamed before he was vaporized in the blast.

Dusk tilted the muzzle of his buster to his face and blew on it, seeming unimpressed with Sageus' army. "So you can revive them if something is left, right?" Dusk looked up at Sageus with a confident sneer, "Then we'll just have to make sure nothing is left."

Taking their brother's queue Night and Dawn switched over to firing their busters at full charge. Sageus took his seat again and continued to watch.

"True if nothing is left then it would be impossible to revive them, but their strategy had one flaw. I wonder if they will discover it in time?" Sageus thought to himself as he snaked out another energy stream to his soldiers.


	28. Desperate Measures

Closer and closer to the end we come. Enjoy 

_Chapter 28_

_Desperate Measures_

Black streaks of energy flew through the air ad connected to the possessed hunters who continued to assault the three mercenaries. After having discovered how to turn the tide in their battle Night, Dusk and Dawn had taken to firing charged shots at their attackers, but the initial ebb in the enemy force had again begun to advance on them.

Night, who was a marksman expert, was firing off his shots from the make shift barricade made at the beginning of the fight, while Dusk and Dawn were fighting in the crowd of enemies. Dawn would fly over head, shoot down and then attack close up. Dusk moved through the crowd dodging all attacks, both enemy and friendly, then attacked with his own buster shots.

The method of attacking was not turning the battle quick enough because of Sageus's speed at reviving his troops. Even the slightest wounds were being healed as soon as they were inflicted.

"This isn't working so well." Night said over the comms.

"No kidding. Unless it's a direct hit they just get back up." This time Dawn's voice spoke out.

Dusk continued to move through the crowd as he spoke up. "Not much we can do, it's just that the speed is…" Dusk stopped and grinned behind his mask.

"What's wrong Dusk?" Dawn was concerned that her brother had stopped talking and thought, "Usually he would have mocked me for pointing out the obvious."

"I know why we're losing in speed and I know how to fix it." Dusk launched himself toward the ceiling as he yelled out his realization and began smashing the ceiling to pieces. As the debris fell Dusk jumped from piece to piece, grabbed Dawn in mid air and landed next to Night.

"It's the charge time, no matter how quick we take them down we still have to charged our weapons to full power. That takes time and leaves us open for punishment."

"That makes sense but you said you can fix it, how?"

Dusk stood up and faced the enemy, I can max my Black Hole Crusher to swallow most of them. Then we'd just have to pick off the ones left."

Dawn looked at Dusk with confidence and Night merely smacked him in the back of the head.

"Idiot! If you do that then you'll have no energy left to fight."

"Not true we still have a sub tank left so that should do."

Night shook his head and let out a sigh, "At least you though ahead a little. So how long do you need?"

"At least 5 minutes then you two have to group them together. Think you can manage that?"

This time it was Dawn who hit Dusk. "Who do you think you're talking to? I can hold them off for 10 minutes by myself."

"Now now let's not get worked up, remember we're still on the job." Night settled Dawn down and drew his staff, walking toward the hunters. "Five minutes Dusk, on your word we'll start to group them together." He shot forward letting a charged shot precede him. "Don't make us wait!"

Dusk slammed his fists together and began to gather energy for his attack, "Just give me my five minutes."

The layout of the room that Night and Dawn now charged into had changed. The ceiling was now mostly destroyed and revealed the night sky overhead. Rubble littered the ground in varying sizes providing partial cover for the battling forces. With the change in their tactics the two siblings began to fight with every weapon they had at their disposal.

Night attacked with his Lunar Cross keeping his enemies on their tows as the bladed weapon swirled around them as its owner shot into the chaos. Dawn was emptying her missile reserves at any hunter that tried to move toward Dusk.

The possessed hunters, with no reserve for their well being, hurdled themselves at Night and Dawn. Using their massive numbers to their advantage they proceeded in making the fight close quarters. They hacked and slashed in the siblings direction trying to get at the one who had apparently decided to give up and pray.

As they started to focus more on Dusk Dawn shot down from the air and started to beat on them with her tonfas. The hunters continued to regenerate and push their way towards Dusk. Night and Dawn were starting to push and throw the ensuing force, their weapons not keeping up with the virus's regenerative ability. Dusk meanwhile was solely focused on his energy charge.

_**Gravity Controller at 100 charge.**_

"Bypass safety to exceed charge."

_**Warning bypassing safety could lead to overload!**_

"Final command bypass safety to exceed charge."

_**Bypass command accepted; proceeding with charge.**_

"This should be something since I've never even charged the controller past 25. Dad always told me that I would never need more that that, but I guess he never planned on a scenario like this." Dusk thought to himself as he listened to the sounds of battle around him.

Dawn yelped in pain and the sound almost made Dusk leap to her defense. "No focus, if I break the charge now then I won't be able to get it back. Focus damn it." Mentally chastising himself Dusk tried to block out Dawn's cries. He should have listened when they became cries of warning.

"Hhahahaha, what's wrong merc lose your back bone?" A viral hunter had gotten past Dawn and was almost on top of Dusk.

"Damn it!" Dusk braced himself for the attack.

"Honestly you think you can just leave me behind every time things get dangerous and you're the one that gets in trouble."

Dusk opened his eyes and saw spears piercing the hunter. He turned his head and a smile appeared on his face.

"Don't smile at me Dusk; I'm still mad at you." Aura flung the hunter that was impaled on her elongated fingers back toward the fighting.

"How much more tie do you need?"

"Two minutes max."

"Then I'm sticking next to you." Aura raised her hand and yelled over to Dawn.

"Dawn-chan don't worry I'll take care of your idiot brother!" Dawn waved back at her, as she clubbed a hunter with her tonfa.

"Damn that's cold." Dusk muttered to himself.

"You say something." Aura glared at him.

"No ma'am, not a thing."

Dusk closed his eyes and continued his charge while Aura lengthened her fingers and stood in front of him. Slashing and impaling, Aura whipped her sharpened fingers at anything that got past Dawn and Night. For those two minutes that past a second seemed an eternity, until a light shined and Dusk clasped his hands together.

"Alright round them up!" The three defenders now went on the offensive and pushed the horde back into a tight group.

"This is as good as we're going to get it!" Dawn yelled.

"Go Dusk do it now!" Came Night's voice.

Moving o the signal Dusk sprang from his crouching position and leapt into the air, his visor and mask sliding over his face.

_**Gravity controller at 200. Warning discharge of weapon will result in power loss of 99!**_

"Yeah yeah I kind of figured on that." Dusk muttered to himself as his HUD ran the warning. Ignoring it his targeting system locked onto the hunter group. Dusk raised his arms and opened his hands, the sphere of black energy rested above them.

"Giga Black Hole Crusher!"

Dusk swung his hands forward and the sphere shot toward the group, distorting the space around it. Aura, Night and Dawn dropped who they were hitting and ran for cover.

"At 100 this attack happens automatically upon contact. At 200 none of those poor bastards should get out alive."

_**Warning power levels at 1! Immediate shut down commencing, override commands ineligible.**_

Dusk smirked at the message, "Yeah I kind of figured that…" and before he could finish his thought Dusk's world went black and he began to fall, right into the imploding gravitational field.

"Dusk!" All three of his comrades yelled.

"Dawn fly up and…" But Aura shoved Night out of the way and leapt into the air.

"Damn idiot, just because I said I'm mad at you doesn't mean you can go and die before I forgive you."

Using her devil based armor Aura started to project brief footholds to keep propelling herself toward Dusk. Leaping from platform to platform Aura crashed into Dusk, knocking them both outside of the gravity sphere's radius.

As the two came crashing down Aura twisted so that she would land on the bottom. Hitting the ground they slid into a chunk of ceiling and Aura felt the air being knocked out of her.

"This idiot better appreciate this when he wakes up." Aura said in between coughs.

"Aura-chan" Aura looked over to see Dawn and Night running over toward them. Dawn dropped to her knees and wrapped Aura into a hug.

"That was so cool back there."

"I agree, good work, but next time let the flyer handle the aerial rescue." Night pulled his sister off of Aura. As she lay Dusk on the floor his body began to glow and in a flash Dusk and Eclipse separated.

"Perfect timing Eclipse, listen Aura Dawn and I are going to clean up the few hunters that managed to survive. You stay here and recharge Dusk. Eclipse still has one sub-tank left."

"What do I look like a nurse? Once Dusk's recharged I'm taking Sageus apart piece by piece."

"Dusk isn't going to wake up so quickly and I rather not have Sageus take him hostage. So recharge him and keep an eye on him."

Aura moved to object again but Night cut her off. "No more complaints you don't have the right gear to fight any of these guys on your own. Plus I know you don't want to leave hi like this."

Aura looked away, her cheeks a slight shade of pink, "Fine I'll watch the idiot."

Night patted her on the shoulder and rushed toward the dozen or so hunters regenerating themselves from the remaining limbs. Dawn followed suit and charged right behind her brother. Eclipse sat next to Aura and the girl reached over and petted the wolf on the head.

"Your partner sure is a handful, huh boy?"

Eclipse whined an agreement and popped open the container that had the last sub-tank. Aura pulled it out and tapped in a sequence on Dusk's buster. Changing from a hand to a docking clip Aura slid the tank on and began transferring the energy.

"He better wake up soon." Aura thought as she looked down at him. She pushed back strands of his red hair peaking from under his helmet and smiled. Eclipse nudged her and Aura shook her head.

"Now's not the time to be distracted." She told herself. Her fingers lengthened again as she stood up. "Once you wake up we're going to end this once and for all." Aura and Eclipse stood next to the unconscious Dusk, lances and fangs ready to strike.

"Why am I always welcomed by darkness every time?"

Floating in an endless dark void Dusk questioned the very nature of what he guessed was his subconscious.

"Why should I even care? I fight for so many things and I never feel that I'm doing it right. All because I keep coming back to here. I don't even know when I first started coming here."

"Shall I tell you when?" A voice called from the darkness. Dusk opened his eyes as the voice continued. "Why is there darkness and never light? Well one simple explanation is that you are unconscious right now, moron, so of course the world is dark."

Dusk looked around to find the owner of the voice, not taking being called a moron by an apparent part of his psyche well.

"Also don't try to label me as a part of you, at least not completely."

Fists clenched, Dusk was not happy that this thing was reading his thoughts.

"Another reason why the darkness welcomes you here, well that's simple." A pair of glowing black eyes appeared before Dusk and a hand grabbed him and lifted him up by the throat. "It is because I am always ready to welcome you back brat."

Dusk looked on in disbelief as he struggled against his assailant. He didn't want to say the menacing figures name, but if he didn't then it felt just the same as surrendering his life. Dusk looked into those glowing black eyes and spoke the name, Black Death grinned maniacally at the sound of his name.

"Now how about we talk a while, hmm?"


	29. Battle of the Soul

Here it is the pen-ultimate chapter, only one more to go after this and man is it going to be something. Can't believe that I've been working on this for so long and it's almost finished, oh well just means I have to get to work on my other ideas. Also I'd like to thank Subakunomeep and Kara for my first two reviews they were much appreciated and I thank you. Now enough stalling get on with the show, just remember to leave a review. _  
_

_Chapter 29_

_Battle of the Soul_

"How long has it been since we last talked, brat?"

Black Death questioned Dusk as he effortlessly held the younger reploid by the throat. A gasp was his only answer.

"Oh, I apologize. We can't talk if I have you like this." He dropped Dusk who starts to cough while rubbing his throat.

"There, now how long?" The question comes nonchalantly like nothing had transpired a moment ago.

Dusk stood back up and glared at Black Death. The viral overlord appears just as Dusk remembered him, black armor covered his entire body, his eyes just as dark as his armor showing almost no sign of color. He wore no helmet but a black hood that exposed only his eyes. When he wanted his enemies to see his smile, which brought many of them terror, he would draw up his hood to expose the lower part of his face. It was as if time had gone back a century to when the two were last face to face.

"Ah I see we are still the talkative one, aren't we brat?" The feeling of nostalgia evaporated and Dusk brought himself back to his immediate problem.

"Why are you here?"

"I see you want to cut right to the chase, how very dull."

Dusk stood ready to fight, "I don't really care whether you're entertained or not, you will answer my question!" Dusk lashed out with his fist. B.Death merely caught the punch and held it with barely any effort.

"My your actions don't reflect on your words, do they? Actually trying to fight me in your condition right now is laughable." B.Death whipped the hand he held and Dusk flew to the ground.

"Since you still managed to amuse me I shall grace you with the knowledge you seek." B.Death was taking pleasure in Dusk's expression. "Yes his spirit is right on the verge." He though as he crouched down to look at Dusk eye to eye.

"When I died my spirit sought out a container for which I could inhabit and live on. However there was a problem, if I inhabited a new body I would be detected right away. Do you know why?"

Dusk glared at the dark figure, knowing that he was smiling beneath that hood. "Because you're nothing but a virus."

"Very good brat, you actually did gain a little intelligence since our last meeting." B.Death again mocked Dusk, "Where does a viral entity hide if he does not wish to be discovered?" He waited to see if Dusk would answer, but continued before he could speak. "The only place would be in another viral signature." B.Death cupped Dusk's chin when he finished.

Dusk let out a weak laugh, "You're telling me that I was your hiding place? Don't be ridiculous I was cured of your virus before you died."

B.Death released Dusk and stood up, "Yes it's true you were cured but the viruses remained imprinted in your systems. Cured does not mean cleansed, you have been and always will be tainted."

Now Dusk knew B.Death was smiling, because he was looking down with his eyes glowing brightly.

"In you I could stay and recover for as long as it took. I merely had to keep a low profile until I was strong enough to take control once again."

Dusk slowly rose to his feet, looking winded standing before the intruder of his very soul. "What makes you think you're strong enough to take over while I'm here?"

B.Death was again greatly amused by the empty bravado Dusk was putting on. He walked toward the teetering mercenary and continued with his explanation.

"Dear little brat do you realize how close you've come to dying recently?"

Dusk was taken back not expecting his brushes with death to hold any meaning to this situation.

"Reploids can be repaired over and over again as long as their spark of life, their soul, still exists. But being damaged so much is quite a burden on the soul." B.Death walked past Dusk so that they were standing back to back.

"Of course this burden can be amplified by other problems; such as moral dilemmas."

Dusk looked back at B.Death, thinking back on his fights with Aura, the attacks on Hunter HQ, and watching Aura being almost killed. "Is this why I've been questioning myself?" Dusk thought.

B.Death turned and put his hand on Dusk's shoulder. "I am not without gratitude brat; after all you have kept me nice and safe for a while now." Dusk moved to shake B.Death's grip but couldn't muster the strength. "Before you face complete oblivion I will give you a chance to watch your family go before you." B.Death waved his other hand and a screen materialized in the void before the two of them. On it Night and Dawn were fighting Sageus's soldiers. As he watched events unfold Dusk again fell to his knees; B.Death watched him and smiled behind his hood. The thought delighted him that he actually could talk an opponent to death.

To say that Sageus was displeased with the fact that three mercenaries managed to defeat 100 of his viral soldiers was an understatement.

"Well it's to be expected that they would lose, but I was not expecting a gravity weapon." Sageus set the thought aside. "No matter in the end they were only foot soldiers; meant to do nothing more than thin the herd of my enemies. Although they didn't even do that much."

It's true that the viral soldiers' regenerative abilities lengthened the battle, but they did not even eliminate one of their foes.

"This just means I will have to rethink my strategy when I deploy them in battle."

A final flash of light brought Sageus back from his thoughts and he stared down at Night and Dawn who had just finished the last of his soldiers. The two siblings were panting heavily, obviously drained from the fight.

"At least they managed something useful." Sageus was impressed that, even though they ultimately died, his soldiers still managed to incapacitate Dusk. With only the two exhausted ones left Sageus could finish the entertainment and move on to his conquest.

"I must commend you on an entertaining show. I was impressed by your brother's power, to defeat so many of my soldiers completely was quite a feat." Sageus rose from his seat and began to descend to the floor. "But now I am afraid we must end our little show. I have plans for the world and they can not wait a moment more."

Sageus snapped his fingers and the shield that had been protecting him faded away. As if on queue Night and Dawn both pointed their busters and fired.

"Excellent aim but I'm afraid you were too slow."

The two siblings turned and stood shoulder to shoulder, busters raised next to each other aimed at Sageus who got behind them.

"Pretty quick for an old man." Dawn mockingly commented.

Sageus tipped his hat, "Kind of you to say but as I said before." Sageus disappeared from sight and again reappeared behind them, his own beam saber in his hand. "This show must end."

He drove the point of his saber into the ground and Night and Dawn fell to the ground. Both were on their hands and knees, slash wounds covering their bodies.

"He moved so fast we couldn't even see him." Night's mind was processing what just happened while Dawn coughed next to him. She tried to hide it but the blood stained her hand when she wiped her mouth.

Sageus wasted no time and turned on them; drawing his saber from the ground he took a step toward them. Night dragged himself back to his feet and stepped between Sageus and Dawn. He drew his staff and prepared for the strike. His mind forcing him to focus.

"Watch him damn it! No way can he not be seen."

Sageus began to take another step and Night saw him blur slightly. He brought his staff up and it connected with Sageus's saber. Using the momentum Night parried and moved to slash at Sageus's mid-section. Sageus caught the bladed staff and yanked it up, lifting Night off the ground.

"There are advantages to you weapon, but its disadvantage of not being a beam weapon is fatal." And Sageus made his point by slashing Night across the chest.

Night fell on his back and clutched his chest; the pain from his wounds searing. Sageus tossed Night's staff aside and leisurely walked in between the two siblings.

"I was an incredible feat blocking me; I guess Prof. Wilson really did know what he was doing."

The mocking reference to their father showed on Night and Dawn's faces. Dawn stood up and swung her tonfa at Sageus, who merely side stepped the attack. When her swing missed Dawn pivoted on her right foot and kicked out with her left. Sageus caught the kick with his left hand and held her there. Dawn used the leverage and jumped, bringing her right foot up to smash down on Sageus. Seeing the follow up coming Sageus, still holding Dawn's leg, spun and threw her across the room.

Sent flying Dawn crashed into a wall, a cough expelling the air in her lungs as well as some blood. In a flash of light Solaris unmerged from Dawn, who fell to the floor unconscious.

Sageus sheathed his saber and turned his attention back to Night. He stood over the eldest sibling who was trying to stand again. A swift kick and Night was back on the floor. Sageus pointed his bust at Night readying to fire when he leaned his head to the right, dodging a pointed spear.

"Ah yes there is still you, isn't there traitor."

Aura reeled herself back and brought up her other hand ready to slash Sageus across the chest. But again sSageus disappeared as Aura made her swipe. As she was following through Aura was yanked off the ground by the back of her neck. Sageus tightened his grip while a crackle of energy began to move down his arm. A second later electricity flowed through Sageus's hand into Aura, causing her to scream in pain.

Dusk continued to watch as Aura screamed; helplessness and rage were his emotions.

"Yes such a sad thing to watch family die, but you already know that don't you brat."

As if these scenes weren't enough Dusk had to endure B.Death's comments.

"And this time it's not just family but your little girlfriend as well." B.Death knelt down next to Dusk and whispered in his ear. "Once she's gone I'll send you to keep her company."

B.Death stood up, "True you could save them,"

"Damn he's reading my thoughts again." Dusk bitterly thought.

"but you can't even stand. So what could you do?"

B.Death was enjoying himself, quickly destroying any hope Dusk might have was not only his chance at life it was fun. A scream brought their attention back to the screen. Sageus had stopped the electric current and dropped Aura to the floor. He pointed his buster at her and grinned.

"I have too much time invested in you to simply kill you out right. Let's see if you can survive being infected with my virus." The buster hummed on his arm. "Of course in your current state you might not survive. Oh well such are the risks of power."

Sageus fired and all Dusk could do was yell in frustration as he watched. He continued to watch as the energy left the weapon and stared in disbelief as the shot impacted with a wall.

The image of Sageus's face twisted in anger as it turned toward the cause of his missed shot.

"Why do you wish to anger me by continuing you're useless interference?"

Night knelt on his knees clutching his chest, his staff now lying on the ground next to Sageus.

"It's simply why I won't stop." His voice weak as he spoke. "Once we take on a job we see it through. We put ourselves through hell for our clients and we keep to our word."

Dusk continued to watch as his older brother continued talking.

"We promised to ourselves and those we lost that we would protect what we all fought for in our own way."

Dusk remembered that, the underlining reason he tried so hard. "How could I have forgotten that?"

B.Death waved his hand and dismissed the screen. In his other hand he now held a sword; the blade double edged and just as black as its wielder, with an ornate hilt resembling the Grim Reaper.

"Well enough fun, time to live again." B.Death said as he held the tip of his sword at Dusk's throat.

"What happened to making me watch my family die?"

"Oh I just don't feel like waiting any more."

"No that's not it." Dusk sounded more confident now. "You're afraid of the influence my brother was having on me with his attitude."

Afraid? Not in the least and to prove it."

B.Death thrusted his sword forward, only the results were not what he wanted. Dusk had knocked the thrust aside and looked up at his would be executioner.

"I think I know why you were torturing me like this." Dusk rose to a kneel on one knee. "My soul has to be beyond hope for you to eliminate it. That's why you constantly darkened this space, made me question my determination; and made me watch my family get beaten."

B.Death was shaking with anger, all his planning and patience being undone because Sageus couldn't just kill his enemies out right. Dusk was starting to rise to his feet, no longer felling weak, no longer feeling uncertain. B.Death pointed his sword at Dusk.

"No matter what they will die and you can't save them."

"You can't beat me down anymore."

Dusk began walking toward B.Death, fisted hands glowing and B.Death stepping back.

"I understand the message now. I thought about it for a while and now I get it." Dusk was walking faster now. "In the darkness I will find my true strength."

If his face was visible it would have shown B.Death flinch. He stopped, raised his sword and yelled. "You'll find nothing in the darkness but death!"

He charged Dusk swinging his blade down. Dusk caught it with his left hand and the metal began to glow red from his heated hand.

"You hold no power here any longer." Dusk ripped the sword form B.Death's grasp and grabbed him by the throat with his other hand. Dusk lifted B.Death off the ground, if there was any in the void.

"I have to thank you." Dusk spoke sincerely at his tormentor, "I t took you nearly killing me to show me my true path again." Dusk tightened his grip. "And now I release you from your burden."

"You'll never be rid of me! I will be back!"

B.Death's final yells were silenced as Dusk took his own sword and stabbed him with it. Dusk looked up at the worst enemy he had ever faced and whispered "Goodbye."

Now lifeless, Dusk laid B.Death's body down and stood in silence. He took in his trials up to this point. Everything was clear, "Fight on and keep to our vow, that is what defines the three of us." Dusk thought. He removed the sword form B.Death and as he did the void seemed to crack. When he held the blade free the darkness broke and was replaced by light.

His darkest hour behind him Dusk was ready for the fight with Sageus. The sword in his hand began to break down and looking at B.Death Dusk saw the lifeless body doing the same. The particles that had once been B.Death swirled around Dusk, bonding to him as the past. As the last particle bonded with Dusk a female voice spoke.

"You have gained strength in both mind and body from the darkness."

Dusk looked up in the direction of where the voice was coming from and saw his sister descending toward him.

"Day-nee."

Day stood in front of her little brother, a proud smile on her face. She embraced Dusk who hugged her back saying, "I'm proud of you little brother. You managed to overcome Black Death when most would have surrendered."

Dusk stepped back and looked down. "I only managed because of Night and also you and dad. I could never have done anything without all of your words."

Day lifted Dusk's head up so that they were looking eye to eye. "Any words you used as advice were merely the catalyst. Your own belief is what gave you your strength and don't think otherwise."

She smiled at him again and he smiled back, Day always could make Dusk smile. Feeling even more confident Dusk looked himself over. Day gave a small laugh realizing what he was doing.

"You can't see the changes but they are there Dusk. Having beaten Black Death you have absorbed his core data."

"Does this mean he can come back?" Dusk did not want to go through this again.

Day shook her head and continued, "No his core data holds only an imprint of his viral signature. With that you have in essence become the virus itself."

Dusk looked alarmed at this information, thoughts of what could happen flashed through his mind. Again Day laughed at his expression.

"The signature is merely an imprint don't worry so much."

Breathing easy Dusk only had one question, "So how does this make me stronger?"

"All viruses now are derived from the Black Death Virus; if you have that signature at your core then you are immune to nay virus you come in contact with."

"Then that means that Sageus just lost his biggest advantage."

"Right, now go and finish your work."

Dusk started to fade away, consciousness calling him back. Day smiled and waved, Dusk waved back and a moment later he was gone.

"Give'em hell Harbringer."

Sageus stood over Night, saber in hand, ready to finish his irritation. He looked the wounded merc over and thought he would have made an excellent subject, but his damned pride was too much of a nuisance.

"All your talk and you can't even save yourself." Sageus raised his saber above his head. "Pathetic."

Night was too wounded to even come up with any last words. He prepared to accept defeat, the world seeming to slow down as Sageus swung down. In that slowed world Night could not believe seeing what he did. Mere inches from his face Sageus's beam saber stopped, the weapon falling to the floor deactivating from Sageus's grasp.

The next thing to run through his mind was to tell Dusk he was late, because Dusk was in the air kicking Sageus in the side of the head. His brother landed in front of him as Sageus stumbled backward, holding the side of his face Dusk had just kicked.

"Sorry to keep you waiting old man but I did just annihilate your little army so I was a bit winded." Dusk's mocking added to Sageus's rage, he reached his hand out and black energy shot out, wrapped around his saber and drew it to him.

Dusk let out a little whistle, "That is a cool trick. Know how to pull a rabbit out of a hat."

"Child you do not know the pain I am going to put you through!"

Dusk drew his own beam saber, ignited it and took his battle stance. "Come on and show me then," Dusk grinned, "old man."


	30. When the Sun Breaks

Well here it is the final chapter, I can't believe that I finally finished this story. I started writing this back when I was still in school and now years later I'm really finishing, freaking amazing. Well to everyone who has enjoyed it I hope that you will read my other works that I'm going to be doing now, this includes the rest of the Mercenary Tales saga. I'm going to try writing multiple things at once cause ideas are coming in mass and I really want to get them down, so without further ado here ya go.

Megaman X and all related characters are copyrighted by Capcom.

Night, Dusk, Dawn and all other characters that do not appear in the games are my own creations, so no stealing folks.

_Chapter 30_

_When the Sun Breaks_

Sageus and Dusk stood opposite each other, each poised to attack. Behind Dusk Night watched as his little brother prepared to take on a vicious enemy in only his regular armor. Night tried to talk but all that came out were muffled gasps. Dusk heard the noise and looked back.

"Don't worry; I know what I'm doing."

In that opening Sageus vanished from sight. Dusk brought up his saber in a high guard, just as Sageus attacked with an over head slash. Sageus was stunned that his attack was blocked and Dusk let out the breath that he was holding.

"You move pretty fast there old man, but speed like that isn't going to work with me."

Sageus broke the contact between the sabers and seemingly blinked back, meaning first he was in front of Dusk next he was standing where he first stood. Sageus held his saber at his side, his grip tightening. His frustration was reaching new levels, this insignificant insect dared to actually pose a threat to his plans. He mentally told himself to calm down; it was just luck that let him stop the attack. Strengthening his grip Sageus would prove that Dusk's luck had run out.

Not risking a second chance like that Dusk watched Sageus carefully and told his brother his plan. "Night, you and the girls need to get out of here. If he takes any of you hostage then…"

"You don't have to worry about that because no one here is going to slow you down." Aura's voice had cut him off. The former enemy walked over and shakingly stood at Dusk's side. Her armor seemed to be losing its consistency, as the devil mass fought to stay in shape. Dusk continued to watch Sageus, seemingly ignoring Aura's protest.

"You're the one who needs to leave I can handle the old man by myself." Aura said.

"Are you still mad at me?" Dusk asked in his mocking tone.

Aura looked at him with a cocked eyebrow, "Of course I am but,"

"Then it won't matter if I do this." Quickly Dusk turned and drove his fist into Aura's stomach, hard. Aura gasped as the air in her body, which she was already having trouble breathing, left violently. She gripped the arm that went into her stomach and looked up at its owner. Dusk looked at her as she was passing out, an apology left his lips and Aura's last thought was to punch Dusk back the next time she saw him.

After the brief interruption Dusk finished laying out his plan to Night. Solaris and Lunaris were to carry Dawn and Aura out with Night, they would get outside and call in reinforcements; as well as report the situation of Saugus's virus. When the back-up arrived they were to surround the base and make sure no one escaped.

"And what about you?" Night asked.

His face turned away from Night Dusk smirked and answered. "I'm going to play with the old man here a bit. Try and teach him some new tricks."

Night sighed in defeat, Dusk was dead set on finishing the fight himself and in his present condition there was no way he could stop or help him. Night unmerged from Lunaris and the two support units lifted Aura and Dawn onto their backs and they started to make their way to the door.

"Do you really think that I would allow you to simply walk away from this?" Sageus yelled.

A few things happened then, one Dusk lowered his visor once Sageus had started yelling, two Sageus had disappeared again when he stopped and three when Sageus disappeared Dusk took off in a dash and slashed at seemingly nothing. However the attack made Sageus reappear blocking Dusk's slash.

"How can you see me!?!" Sageus was furious that his movements had been countered again by Dusk.

Dusk pressed down with his saber, "The first time was because I left you only the one opening, so I knew where you were going to attack." Dusk put everything he had into his attack and pushed Sageus back. Through the tinted lense of his visor he saw that the girls weren't the only ones that needed help getting out.

"Eclipse get Night out of here." His lupine partner barked an affirmative, ran up and threw Night onto his back running out the door following Lunaris and Solaris.

Again Sageus tried to take advantage of the distraction and made another attack. This time Dusk jumped back, barely in time, and avoided Saugus's blade. He let a smug smile show on his face knowing it would make his opponent madder.

Sageus didn't bother to look at Dusk, he merely vanished again. With his opponent's speed Dusk took a defensive stance, both hands gripping his beam saber held in front of him. Dusk scanned the room looking in every direction he could. When he stopped looking he moved his saber low and mad contact with Saugus's weapon again. This time Dusk smirked face to face with the older reploid.

Sageus was angry and he could see it one his face, thanks to the reflection from Dusk's visor. How was the whelp following his moves? The speed he moved at made him invisible to the naked eye. "So what was it?" he questioned himself while matching saber strikes with his opponent.

"Looks like he's trying to figure it out." Dusk thought as Sageus switched his tactics from the high speed attacks to regular sword play. Of course the trick to following Sageus when he moved at those high speeds was simple. Dusk was merely using a vision filter that one of his grandfathers had installed for him after a training session. "And I thought Grandpa Wily just wanted to mess with me."

Said training session was one in which Dusk found himself facing one of his uncles, and at this point in time he had quite a few considering how many Robot Masters were active back then. Dusk had gotten beaten badly and Grandpa Wily was lucid that he didn't' even manage to land a single blow. His excuse was that Quickman was just, well, too quick. This brought on the lecture about that didn't matter and other rants leading up to Dusk saying he agreed and would work harder. It was when he got his way that his grandfather would then help Dusk out. In this case being an upgrade to his visual receptors. Dusk then remembered the next session with Quickman being a bit more even, although he still lost.

Dusk's filter acted like a high speed lens. When he watched through his visor anything moving at high speed would be shown in almost stop motion. The visuals would give Dusk a small advantage in reading movement and let him react in time.

"Of course even if I can predict his movements my body can't always react fast enough." Dusk thought to himself. He could almost feel the heat scorching his armor from the last high-speed attack he dodged.

The sword play now though was leveling the playing field. Sageus unable to figure out how Dusk was reading his movements, needed to analyze his opponent's movements to discover his secret. Dusk was trying to land some lethal blows while Sageus wasn't using his speed, knowing sooner than later Sageus would figure him out.

Sageus lunged at Dusk, his saber aimed at Dusk's chest. Dusk brought up his own saber, parrying the lunge, and rushed forward slamming his shoulder into Saugus's stomach. Sageus stumbled back losing his balance and Dusk Used a horizontal slash to cut Sageus in half. With no momentum to dodge to the side or parry, the older reploid tumbled backward. Not exactly dignified, but he dodged the attack meant to cut him in half.

Sageus rolled back, tumbled and got back onto his feet. From his crouched position he used his high speed and charged at Dusk. Seeing Sageus moving at him quickly for a thrust Dusk moved to the side, his guard up; but Sageus hadn't attacked like Dusk had anticipated, he had stopped. Not expecting his action Dusk watched as Sageus went into high speed again, this time he was definitely going for a thrust. Dusk got his timing and moved to counter the attack. When his saber connected with nothing Dusk was confused.

"So you can't really see me."

Dusk turned around; apparently Sageus had just run past him.

"You see what I'm about to do, but you can't follow my movements completely."

Dusk cursed under his breath, his advantage in this fight had been discovered. "Most likely I reacted too early on that last dodge." He thought as he watched Sageus grin at his discovery.

"I must admit it was frustrating, but now I know," Sageus had vanished. Dusk saw him coming and took an offensive approach; slashing diagonally in Saugus's path. Sageus stopped, let the attack happen and dashed forward again. Close enough he slashed Dusk across the chest and finish speaking, "that I can hurt you."

Dusk grimaced as he felt the energy blade cut into him. He jumped back and landed on a piece of ceiling. Examing himself he counted it lucky that the wound wasn't deep.

"But still that starting and stopping will do me in if I don't know how to react."

Dusk watched as Sageus came rushing at him. On top of the rubble he could see Saugus's movements, dodging the ceiling pieces in his way, as he came closer to his perch. Now at that base of where Dusk was Sageus leapt straight up along the rubble. Dusk took his buster and fired down. Sageus kicked off the broken ceiling and avoided the blast. Taking advantage of the situation Dusk jumped dafter Sageus, his saber at the ready.

When he was in striking distance Dusk slashed fro Saugus's chest, but Sageus brought his own blade up, deflected the blow and punched Dusk in the Face. Dusk went sailing back to the rubble and collided with it; bouncing off and onto the floor. Sageus landed on the ground and began to walk over to Dusk, who was getting back onto his feet.

"Very commendable to try and attack me in the air, but utterly useless."

Dusk looked at him and rubbed his face, "I'll tell you what is useless is you punch." He spat blood on the ground and grinned again. However there was no reaction from Sageus.

"Know who you face child. I am not to be so easily swayed by false bravado."

Dusk was about to say something again but Sageus came at him head on. Not wasting time Dusk fired at the ground in rapid succession, kicking up dust and breaking the ground.

"I already told you," Sageus spoke as he leapt into the air still coming at Dusk, "whatever you do is useless."

The old reploid broke through the smoke, his blade already poised for his attack. Dusk quickly drew his other saber and readied for the attack. Sageus slashed down at Dusk while Dusk brought both sabers up in an X pattern to catch the opposing blade. Sparks flew as the blades collided and another power struggle developed as the two tried to force through to their opponent.

Sageus ended the struggle when he kicked Dusk in the side, sending him skidding on the floor. Before he could get back up Dusk was kicked again, being sent straight up into the air. Dusk hung loosely in the air, his jaw clenched with blood dripping from the edge, one eye open watching as Sageus shot right up in front of him.

"I must say I am disappointed." Sageus spoke casually as both of them reached the apex of their respected flights. "I have heard stories about you form the war and even greater were the rumors. The Harbringer of Twilight some called you, I must admit I am not at all impressed."

The two began to fall back to the ground while Sageus continued on about the lack of gratitude he was not gaining from their fight. Dusk on the other hand had only one thing to say.

"Sorry but I just can't take a fight seriously when my opponent is a senile old geezer." Dusk started to laugh at his own joke, but Sageus merely drew his clenched fist back and drove it into Dusk's stomach, sending him hurtling toward the ground. Sageus watched his foe plummet and his face showed hints of red, his anger was starting to show again. As Dusk fell to the waiting ground his hand had only one finger up, flipping off the old reploid.

"It was worth it." Dusk thought as he crashed into the ground. The impact kicked up a huge dust cloud in the thrashed throne room. Sageus landed just outside of it; looking at the sight he reached up and tipped the rim of his hat down over his eyes.

"I can not believe this is the full extent of your power." Sageus spoke with disappointment in his voice.

As if to answer him a charged shot blew out of the dust cloud, knocking it away. Sageus, with his right hand still holding the rim of his hat, reached over with his left hand and drew the beam saber hanging form his waist. In that one motion Sageus touched the hilt of his saber drew it, ignited it and cut the shot in half. He let his hand fall to his sides and he let out a sigh.

The dust cloud was now parted in two and in the clearing between the two stood Dusk, his right buster being geld steady by his left hand. He looked out through a cracked visor, blood trickling down like tears underneath on the right side. He watched Sageus casually begin to walk toward him, again talking about the hopes he had for this battle.

"You talk about the extent of my power, but I'm just one soldier." Dusk said his vision drawn to a red icon on his HUD. "And like any solider I know when I need support."

Sageus had walked right up to Dusk and looked down at him. "True your reasoning is correct, but who can possibly save you."

"You misunderstand old man, I said support not rescue. Alone I can do only so much." The icon on Dusk's HUD changed to green. "With my partner however I'm sure I can tear you apart." A flash of orange light shot down on Dusk and the resulting energy discharge knocked Sageus back.

Despite being knocked back Sageus maintained his footing and was still standing as the light faded. What he saw made him grin slightly because across from him now stood his worthy opponent. Dusk, who had now merged with Eclipse, stood wearing his sunset orange armor devoid of the wounds he had sustained. Dusk reaised a hand to his now visible face and wiped the blood away from his healed wound.

"Most impressive Dusk but merely mearging with your support unit will not change much. After all," Sageus dashed forward with his speed and appeared behind Dusk, saber at his neck. "I am still superior to you."

"If you're so superior then how did I just stab you?"

All Sageus managed to say was "What…" before Dusk disappeared and he felt a sharp pain in his back.

"You're not the only one who can boast about their speed."

Standing behind Sageus Dusk withdrew his saber and watched as the streams of energy crawling over Sageus's body wound their way to the wound. "Did you really think that I would be killed so easily?"

Dusk's expression showed neither surprise or anger, it merely appeared passive. A sigh escaped from him and he stepped back as Sageus turned toward him. "The big speeches and tyrannical taunts aren't worth much any more, so just save it old man." Dusk again shielded his face behind the protective confines of his mask and visor. "The only thing that needs to happen now is me kicking your ass till there's nothing left!"

Dusk exploded at Sageus, his saber coming in a slash meant to separate Sageus from his head. Sageus leapt back and blocked the attack with his own saber. Dusk dropped down and swept Sageus's feet causing him to fall backward. Still turning from the sweep Dusk rose up and stabbed his falling opponent through the chest.

Expecting the wound to heal he was going to pull his saber out and cause more damage but Dusk couldn't separate his weapon and foe. The energy coils that he had seen heal and retrieve objects were now wrapping around his saber's hilt holding strong. The static feeling of ozone burning made Dusk jump back as Sageus swung his own beam saber at him from the ground.

With a grin on his face Sageus withdrew his coils and pulled the protruding saber from his chest, the viral energy fixing the wound. He tossed it back to Dusk as if saying try again, an invitation he gladly accepted as he snatched his weapon from the air and rushed Sageus again. The blades met again and again, both combatants moving at incredible speeds. But Sageus was recovering from Dusk's blows too quickly. Dusk's only saving grace was a slight edge in speed.

"This is spectacular." Sageus said after they broke from each other. "This is what I was expecting from you."

"What the hell does it matter, your expectations mean crap to me." Dusk said tensing the grip on his saber.

"You do not understand what I've been trying to accomplish."

"Taking over the world, you've already told me and pretty much and one you meet."

Dusk rushed forward with a vertical slash. Sageus brought up his saber and parried; then turned and lashed out with his energy coils. The black energy wrapped itself around Dusk, binding him. Sageus whirled his coils and whipped Dusk into a piece of rubble. Dusk crashed through feeling the impact and then the shift in momentum as Sageus hurtled him toward other obstacles. After obliterating the last of the bigger pieces of rubble Sageus held Dusk in the air with the coils streaming from his back now.

"Yes, as you said I am going to take over the world. However I intend to dominate my enemies and to do that I need loyal, vicious and superior soldiers. Do you understand yet?"

Sageus walked toward his suspended captive; wanting to look into Dusk's face but only seeing his own reflection in protective face plating.

"The virus creates loyalty. The virus prohibits all emotions to my desire thus I can create vicious and fearless soldiers. Finally the virus restores its host to their original state regardless of the wounds inflected upon them. Thus superior soldiers who march on despite their wounds."

Dusk snorted a laugh and said "Your so called superior army is a joke considering how easily we took them out. If I remember it was 100 to 4, not very impressive.

Sageus looked down and shook his head. "You missed the meaning of everything leading to the moment. The grunts you defeated to get here were a test." He looked back up at Dusk and pointed his buster at him. "As I said I am creating an army and you qualify to join its ranks." Sageus fired, the blast engulfing Dusk and severing the coils holding him in place.

Dusk's smoking figure fell to the ground and landed in a crouching position. Sageus grinned and walked toward the first of his true army.

"You will be the pinnacle of my achievements on the battle field. Soon I will infect others of merit; X, Zero, the rest of your little family. Even some choice Mavericks I've had my eye on." He stopped in front of Dusk, waiting for him to look up and see red eyes staring back at him. His guard down Sageus never saw the fist coming up at him. Dusk connected with the viral lord's chin and knocked him off his feet.

"Well as great as that all sounds I'm going to have to decline the offer to join up. Besides I've still have a job to finish." Dusk said as he cracked his fingers and began to walk toward the floored Sageus, who was staggering back to his feet.

"How?" Sageus whispered to himself in disbelief.

"Simple really considering I have the Black Death virus in my core." Dusk enlightened Sageus before rushing forward right in front of the wide eyed and surprised villain.

Dusk struck the ground and emitted an energy field from the point of impact. The attack knocked Sageus back burning him fiercely. The shock from Dusk's words and the sudden failure of his infection did not prepare Sageus for what was coming. Dusk shot forward again his fist glowing.

"Here's the first burst!" Dusk connected with a right hook. "Flare!" Sageus reeled back with the hit. Dusk swung with the momentum, building up more energy into fist. "Second Burst!" He hit Sageus hard in the gut making him keel over. "Corona!" Sageus looked up at the reflective covering on Dusk's face and contorted his own in anger. "And here's the finale." The booster popped out of Dusk's forearm and ignited. The powerful punch connected with Sageus's chin again knocking him up into the air. "Super Nova!"

When Sageus reached the apex of his flight he heard the humming noise of a buster charging. He yelled in fury as Dusk slammed his buster right into Sageus's chest and fired a charged blast. As he watched Sageus rocket to the ground in the energy blast Dusk yelled after him, "I call that my Explosion Burst combo. Enjoy in hell asshole."

Sageus's yell faded as the energy impacted with the ground. Dusk landed and looked at his handy work, a sense of accomplishment starting to come over him. "Man when I make a bang I make a bang." Dusk said. "Now that he's finished I better go check on the others." Dusk turned from the smoking crater that he had created and started toward the door. "Although I better keep some distance from Aura, she's liable to do more damage than…" Dusk stopped in mid step, a slight cackling sound drew his attention back to the crater. There floating in the air were ribbons of the black energy Sageus had used.

"No fucking way." Dusk mumbled.

The cackling now grew into maniacal laughter. The energy ribbons began to swirl violently creating a cocoon shape.

"You are full of surprises mercenary." Sageus's voice boomed in the room. "I never thought I would have to use this form against only one person."

The cocoon of energy grew and continued to grow until it was the size of a small building. The swirling torrent suddenly stopped and the streams of energy swept out and began to demolish the room. What was left of the walls and ceiling were turned to ruble and swept over the sides of the building. Now the floor was completely exposed to the open sky.

Dusk had dove onto the floor as the energy streams made their renovations to the room. With the onslaught seemingly finished he got back up on his feet and took in a sharp breath. There in the middle of the room, what Dusk could only guess at, was Sageus. The form the viral overlord had taken was huge. Where his previous appearance was humanoid this one would better fit the characteristics of a tank.

His body was almost squared in shape, yet slanted down in the front. The top of the body was that of a bulky upper torso, the features looking angular and inflexible. Sageus's facial features had become completely robotic, his eyes merely red visor sensors, his mouth a speaker and his beard now resembled a metallic plating only slightly resembling a beard. His lower body looked as if he was kneeling, though whether he could possibly unfold his legs Dusk didn't know. The most impressive thing beside his size was the fact that Sageus was hovering in the air with his massive body.

"Behold true power, the likes of which you will ever see." Sageus's voice boomed.

"So he became a huge hovering tank, can't be that bad right?" Dusk thought and as if to answer the unspoken question energy began to gather near Sageus's mouth. The gathered energy discharged like a shot from an energy canon. Dusk leapt out of the way and stared in disbelief as he watched the beam continue on into the distance before disappearing. "Crap."

"Now the world will behold my power and submit in my wake." Sageus spoke. "As I am now the fools who seek power will flock to me and become my servants." His red eyes focused on Dusk, "And you will be paraded before me as a warning to those who would dare oppose me."

Dusk fired his buster and hit Sageus in the face. "Sorry old man but I am nobody's hood ornament." The scorch mark from the blast healed on Sageus's face, the ability to heal apparently was still working.

"You are nothing more than an insect to me now Dusk." Sageus raised his arm, "And as such you will be squashed."

Sageus slammed his fist where Dusk was standing; Dusk jumped out of the way but felt something grab his ankle. One of the tendrils had shot out from the extended arm and was pulling him toward Sageus's open hand. Dusk fired at the tendril breaking away before being pulled into Sageus's waiting hand. Landing and rolling off Dusk sprang to his feet and fired off shots, circling Sageus's massive form. For the damage it was doing Dusk might as well have been throwing rocks. The tendrils whipped violently from Sageus striking Dusk with quick lashes and some trying to grab him again.

Dusk drew his beam saber and charged toward Sageus. With only the option to attack close up Dusk slashed and shot his way through the tendrils. He leapt into the air, arm drawn back ready to strike. Sageus raised his hand, but not to grab Dusk, instead the hand revealed another weapon. A green orb of energy was growing in Sageus's hand and Dusk's eyes widened when it shot toward him. When the orb made contact with him it didn't force Dusk back it absorbed him.

Completely engulfed pain shot through his body and his scream echoed in the air. The attack dissipated and dropped Dusk to the ground. Shaking he stood back up, his armor cracked with pieces falling off as he rose. He stood before Sageus, teetering on his feet and looked up at him.

Sageus let out a laugh, "Do you see now that you stand no chance of defeating me."

"You're right I stand no chance, but_** I**_ can." Dusk said. A message scrolled across his HUD.

_**Twilight System Activated**_

The scene on the hill overlooking the base was hectic. The 17th and 0 units were rushing around setting up a base camp. After the signal they recovered from one of the mercenaries the only option given was to hurry to the site to lend support. The unit commanders put an emphasis on the medics' part in the operation, after all family was involved.

Upon their arrival they found Night and Dawn badly damaged. Their surprise was finding one of the Mavericks that had attacked the base not too long ago. Most of them wanted to let her lie, but after Commander X and Night had finished talking she was given treatment. Now they were wait and watching the enemy base, ready to move in when the order was given.

"Are you sure Dusk can handle Sageus?" X asked Night. They were looking at the battlefield from the medic area. "From all the information we've gathered Sageus registers as a category S Maverick. I don't want Dusk taking on more than he can handle."

"He knows what he's doing Uncle X. You worry too much just like Uncle Rock used to; just have a little faith in him." Night said. Even though Night was trying to alleviate his uncle's worries the recent discharges from the base's peak did cause some concern.

What happened next caused definite need for concern, Lunaris and Solaris both turned to the base and without any warning teleported out toward the peak. As the two beams of light that were Lunaris and Solaris reached the base a brilliant flash of light illuminated the night.

Night turned toward his uncle and said, "Now we may have to worry."

With his current form Sageus could do nothing to shield his eyes from the intense light that had engulfed Dusk. He watched on with intense curiosity wondering what exactly the foolish mercenary could be attempting. When the light subsided Sageus's curiosity was replaced with amusement, for before him stood a being that could not possibly cause him any problems.

Where Dusk had stood now stood a reploid in a dark silver gray armor. The armor was thin and contorted to the shape of the reploid's body. Around his shoulders draped a cape, the outer side a lighter shade of silver while the inner side was a dark violet. On his back was a sword in an ornate scabbard in dark blue and violet, the hilt was shaped with a spiral grip and had the guard sloping downward from the blade. The silver reploid wore a helmet that completely covered his head; nothing appeared to be unprotected on his body.

The reploid stepped forward with his cape flowing behind him as he walked. "It has been a long time since I was last summoned to take part in battle." He looked around at his surroundings, nodding as he took them in. When he laid eyes on Sageus he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "From what I am seeing I take it you are the one Dusk had a hard time with?"

Sageus replied with a laugh and then spoke. "What is this a new armor and you think you can match me in combat? Little Dusk why do you insist on going forward when your death is the only outcome to our battle?"

The reploid merely stood his ground and shook his head. "Forgive me for not introducing myself, but it appears you have confused me with my brother Dusk." The reploid threw back his cape and showingly bowed while introducing himself, "My name is Twilight and I believe it is you who will be dying tonight."

Again Sageus laughed, "Twilight, do you honestly believe that a different armor and voice modulator will help disguise what you are Dusk? This is pitiful and the charade ends now."

Sageus attacked with his energy tendrils in great numbers, it appeared as if total darkness was rushing toward Twilight. Twilight reached up to the hilt of his blade as the tendrils seemingly swallowed him whole.

"You see Dusk you are completely out-classed against," Sageus stopped talking as the tendrils he had set upon Twilight exploded into ribbons. And still standing in the same spot was Twilight holding his sword out to the side.

"My blade Sol resonates at high frequency vibrations and has been laser sharpened so the edge is as thin as an atom. In my hands this blade can cut anything." Twilight hefted the sword and rested it on his shoulder. "Now that the exhibition is out of the way prepare yourself for I show no mercy unlike my brother."

"Very well then Twilight," Sageus spat out the name, "let us end this battle." Tendrils rose from Sageus's back and waved anxiously in the air. "I have a world to conquer."

The tendrils shot out at Twilight, some as whips, some as restraints and now some spun like drills. All of them though pulsed with energy causing massive electric shocks wherever they hit. Twilight jumped and dodged the tendrils, cutting them with Sol when necessary. If Dusk was fast when equipped with his Eclipse armor Twilight apparently dwarfed that speed with ease. He moved at speeds that allowed him to leave after images of himself, which drew most of the deadly tendrils away from him.

The tendrils were only one matter Twilight was dealing with though, Sageus was firing off the green orbs from his hands as fast as he could. The air was alive with energy from the weapon fire Sageus was letting loose with. However true to his word Twilight was cutting everything Sageus threw at him.

"This is pathetic," Twilight spoke while moving through the attacks, "I would have thought you would have more skill than this. Sadly all it seems that you can do is attack so much that you hope to hit me." Twilight vanished from Sageus's sight and appeared behind the colossal being. With one swipe of his sword Twilight bisected Sageus from top to bottom. "Forgive me for ending it so quickly but my time is limited."

The halves of Sageus crashed to the ground and the floor shook from the impact. Twilight sheathed Sol and began to walk away from Sageus only to stop when his foe began to speak. "Now I believe you are Twilight, only he could have so easily wounded me." Energy tendrils connected the two halves and slowly began to pull them back together. "Also if you were Dusk you would have known about my ability to recover. Perhaps you will make a finer trophy to be displayed before my forces."

"I was aware of your recovery ability but I see now the true extent of it," Twilight once again drew Sol, "now I will show you the true extent of my abilities."

Sageus was in one piece and back in the air again, his attack recommencing. A number a tendrils shot forward and converged into one massive spike. Twilight brought Sol up to guard and caught the spike before it could bore a hole through him. As the spike and Sol came into contact the electric current passed through the two and shocked Twilight. The pain shooting through his body caused Twilight to knock the attack away leaving him open for the energy orbs shooting toward him. With only a second to counter Twilight leapt toward the approaching attack and swung Sol, cutting through the attacks.

"One must always think two steps ahead." Sageus's comment caught Twilight's attention and he turned to see him charging his energy canon. With Twilight in mid air dodging would be almost impossible. Sageus laughed as the canon discharged, shooting the weapon energy toward Twilight. With no other option Twilight brought Sol up again to block the attack. As the beam made contact with the blade Twilight angled Sol so that the beam would force him to the ground instead of off into the sky. Sageus did not let up with the attack; he continued to pour energy into the beam keeping pressure on Twilight.

With no sign of an opening in the attack Twilight took the only choice he could think of. He dropped his guard and raised Sol into a thrust, the tip cutting into the energy stream. Twilight yelled as the pain washed over him, but he used the feeling and launched himself at Sageus. As he said in his hands Sol could cut anything and that was true as he moved up through the beam, the deadly energy cascading down on him his yell transforming into a battle cry. Sageus watched on in disbelief as Twilight came right up and shot through his head.

Now through the hard part Twilight landed on top of the headless Sageus and drove Sol into the spot where the his head had been. He gripped the hilt of his sword and focused on his blade. "As you said one must think two steps ahead, well I hope you can hear this because this is the end. Right now I'm focusing Sol to vibrate faster than normal and with it imbedded in your body right now I would guess that it is causing havoc to your internals considering your head hasn't grown back yet." True enough Sageus remained headless yet his body still operated, but it was moving strangely. The arms were jerking, the hovering would stutter and drop and then pick back up, and electrical discharges were sparking over Sageus's body. Twilight left Sol where it was and leapt into the air directly above Sageus, the familiar hum of a weapon charging filled the air.

"Now is the time where we part monster." Twilight raised his hands above his head, a silver light rising from his open palm. The humming turned into a high pitched note and Twilight brought his hands down shooting a green beam toward Sageus. "Green Flash!" The beam struck Sageus and bore a hole into his body right where Twilight had left Sol. The attack didn't end there as beams of green light began to pierce Sageus's body. Twilight landed away from Sageus, draped his burnt cape over his shoulders and began talking. "Usually my attack lasts for and instant vaporizing my opponent, but with you I needed to amp up the intensity. So I used Sol again to distribute the energy and high frequencies thus attacking you at the microscopic level."

"Yo..o..ou…ha..ve...no..t…be..a.te..n...me." Sageus spoke brokenly, apparently somewhere he had audio capability still available. "I...a.m...in..v.in..cib..le!"

"Wrong you are dead."

A broken mechanical yell rose and was replaced by an explosion, a green flash signaled Sageus's end and left nothing of the former Black Death general. Over the horizon the night was ending as the sun broke over the hills. Twilight walked forward and retrieved Sol, imbedded in the floor where Sageus had just stood. He sheathed his blade and teleported away.

Back at the command center for the Maverick Hunter field teams X and Zero were joined by a recovered Night, Dawn and Aura. They were finalizing their plans to storm the Maverick base when they were interrupted by an explosion at the base's top. Worried glances were exchanged and Aura ran forward to better see. The sun had risen yet it brought no one any comfort, the ones that knew him were too worried about Dusk. Night walked out to Aura and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know my little brother and there is no way that he is not coming back."

Aura kept her face turned away from the others and simply nodded. With all that she has gone through she did not want to continue on alone anymore. She learned the truth behind what she thought was betrayal. She was ready to start over, but she did not want to do it alone; not without Dusk. Aura was about to charge ahead to the base without anyone when a Hunter tech yelled out. "Commander X we have incoming, the energy signature is off the charts."

Everyone readied their weapons as a silver gray teleport beam shot down in the area. When Twilight rematerialized he looked around and held up his hands.

"I know I didn't signal but I think we can get by without shooting me."

Night lowered his buster and yelled out for everyone to stand down. Twilight lowered his hands and walked toward him. Aura stared apprehensively at Twilight and Night wondering how Night could forget about Dusk.

"No time to get reacquainted Night get a med team here now I've been active for too long and used too much energy. He's going to be in bad shape." Twilight said as Night led him to the command center.

"Is he going to make it?"

"Yes he'll pull through but I have to leave now."

"All right go ahead the med team is on stand by for him anyway. Thanks Twilight."

"Anytime brother." The two shook hands and then Twilight was engulfed in a bright light and three beams separated from him. Lunaris, Solaris and Eclipse collapsed on the ground exhausted after their ordeal. In Twilight's place now stood Dusk, his armor gone, he was in nothing but his black under armor. A smile crossed his face as he collapsed on the ground. Night was already yelling for the medics as they rushed in and carried Dusk off to be worked on.

"What the hell was that, first someone we don't even know shows up and then he turns out to be Dusk." Aura was rounding on Night. "You better explain."

"Just calm down Aura, that reploid that showed up was Twilight the last creation of Prof. Wilson our father. He was designed to operate as in conjunction with a system that used our three support units to power his systems. The up side is he's powerful enough to take on anything, the down side is that Dusk runs the risk of death every time he uses the system."

"Why Dusk then?"

"That's something you're going to ask him, he's the one that choose to have the Twilight System put in. Now all we can do is wait."

_3 Weeks later_

"The incident at the Black Ops Hunter base had been finally settled. It was discovered that Sageus had infiltrated the organization with the aid of an unknown backer. This backer has also been linked to the creation of what is now being called the Sage Virus. Currently we have no leads on the backer but we are certain that the virus cannot be transmitted with out Sageus so that problem is settled." Signas was giving his report to the Security Council.

"What of the mercenaries who were hired to deal with the situation?" One of the council members asked.

"They have been paid for their job and have filed non-disclosure orders as per standard operating procedure. I don't think we have to worry about them talking."

"I would hope not Commander Signas. If it ever got out that another high ranking hunter operative was close to destroying the world we would lose the publics support." Another member spoke up this time.

"Trust me sir everything is settled with the mercenaries." Signas tipped his hat to hide his face, "At least until the next incident." He whispered to himself.

Meanwhile back at their home Night, Dusk and Dawn were still recuperating.

"I know we got a nice pay day from this but we saved the world and get no recognition for it." Dawn was whining again as usual. "Uncle X and Zero save the world everyone knows. We do it and we have to file non-disclosure orders."

Dusk was sitting at their kitchen table with his head resting on the table. "What's this we stuff any way, last I checked I'm the one that almost died killing the big boss off."

"You didn't do it, Twilight did and I bet it wasn't that long into the fight you had to call him in." Dawn shot back.

"Well at least I managed to last until the end unlike someone."

"Why you…"

"Ok, alright, time out children." Night had come into the kitchen, Lunaris lopping along at his side. "Dusk you have some company at the front door."

Dusk looked at his brother who had a smile that the devil would be proud of. "Do I even want to ask who it is?"

"Just go." Night urged him out of his seat and toward the door. Dusk was still sore from the battle and transformation so being urged anywhere right now was a pain. As he reached the door he opened it to receive two shocks. The first was seeing Aura waiting for him, the second was the hit to the stomach she gave him.

"That was payback." She said in an angelic voice. Dusk was coughing and breathing deeply as he held onto the door frame for support. When he was breathing normal again the two of them laughed at their situation. When that was finished they went into the living room and sat down.

"Well after a little intervention from Commanders X and Zero it looks like I'm going to be put onto one of their squads. Of course the council says it's to keep an eye on me, but at least it's not jail." Aura was filling Dusk in on what's been happening while he was recovering.

"Try for Uncle Zero's unit he's a bit easier to work for. Never know when he's going to die so paper work isn't really an issue with him." The two of them laughed at Dusk's joke. Aura leaned against Dusk and rested her head on his shoulder, the laughter stopped then.

"So where does this leave us?" Aura asked.

"I'd say where it always leaves us," Dusk looked into Aura's eyes, "together." The two kissed for the first time since they were reunited. Everything would have been perfect if Eclipse who was lying on the floor in the room didn't whine to be fed.

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And that is the end for these characters for now. I was going to write an epilogue (yes Kara I am going to write one), but it is 2am now and I am tired. So to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story I hope to entertain you again soon with more Mercenary Tales. Until then I'm going bed. Later DuskW


	31. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

Two figures sat in a darkened room, illuminated only by the various screens on the walls. In the center of the room sat and long table with a chess board atop it. The board showed an almost one sided game with black winning. One of the figures sat in her chair lazily, not even seeming the slightest bit interested in her losing chess game.

"So now that you've lost Sageus what are you going to do now?" Star leaned over the board letting the light over it light up her face.

The other figure rose from his chair and walked over to the monitors. They showed various images; some of Maverick Hunter HQ, different city areas, field operations of both the hunters and mavericks, and even the Security Council's chambers. As the figure walked along he hummed a tune to himself, letting his mind wander. Star cleared her throat to gain his attention. The man stopped and looked back at her.

"My dear Star do you really think that a base experiment like Sageus would truly affect my plans? No the so called great strategist was merely a means to an end."

"A means to what though?" Star asked.

The man snapped his fingers and the screens began to show the fight between Sageus and Dusk. "This is what I truly wanted to witness. The Sage Virus was an idea I had floating in my head, but tempting Sageus with it was a stroke of genius on my part." He turned to watch the fight, as he has done countless times now since receiving the video. "Dusk here is one of three robots that contributed to the end of a war over a century ago. To truly defeat him I needed data on that power." He turned back to Star now, "Do you understand now my dear?"

"You needed a threat to match the need for the handsome boy to go all out, correct."

"Very astute Star, there may be hope for you yet." The man walked back toward the chess board, snapped his fingers again and the screens changed to show a tank with a small creature floating inside it. The location on the screen read R&D lab 003 Cybertronics. The man moved his knight across the board and grinned at Star.

"Checkmate."

"You win again Dr Weil."


End file.
